Preaching without permits

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by RANYA KARIFILLY and GEORGE MADDUX

Street vendors who covet prime space at McGill College and Ste-Catherine have complained, in vain, that the Open Air Campaigners have stolen their spot. Although trinket-peddlers and buskers require permits, this group of 130 preachers from across Canada and the States has taken over some of the busiest downtown sidewalk turf without anybody's official permission.

"We've been told by the city that no permits exist for preachers," says Tony Schaapman, Montreal director of the OAC; it's a loophole the group has interpreted as a legal blessing. And a downtown police officer agrees that the street-level religious campaign to buttonhole passersby is entirely legal. "They're allowed. It's a religious thing, so they don't need a permit."

The proselytizers could point to the Canadian Charter of Rights as the secular scripture that protects any religious expression that doesn't threaten freedom and democracy. They could also note the historic battle that resulted in the 1959 Supreme Court decision allowing local restaurateur Frank Roncarelli the right to display religious literature in public.

But the Christians are diplomatic. They have, for example, asked the nearby Planet Hollywood to alert them if customers complain. None have yet, according to a restaurant manager.

While dozens mill around to hear the bilingual evangelical message, another passerby expresses his own religious views, yelling, "I am Satan!" But unless there turns out to be an 11th commandment declaring "Thou shalt not hog the sidewalk," expect neither Satan nor cops to kick the preachers from their spot.

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