Cab driver gets to keep religious items

MONTREAL, March 26 (UPI) -- A Montreal cab driver won the right to keep religious objects in his cab in an out-of-court settlement with the Montreal Taxi Bureau.

Arieh Perecowicz, who lost a Municipal Court appeal Feb. 17 to eliminate the $1,300 in fines and court costs he has amassed since 2006, said he has reached an agreement with officials to allow him to keep the items in his cab, The (Montreal) Gazette reported Friday.

The settlement includes a written statement from the head of the Montreal Taxi Bureau stating religious items will be allowed in cabs provided they do not create a security hazard or can be seen as proselytizing.

Perecowicz, who vowed after the February loss to fight his case "all the way to the Supreme Court," was initially fined in 2006 for having items in his cab including religious symbols, pictures of his daughter and a rabbi, and a Remembrance Day poppy.

The driver said his goal in fighting the fines "was to ensure for myself and for other drivers that our freedom of religion and expression was protected."

"I ... consider the settlement a victory for all Quebecers ... The city has gone a long way in recognizing the risk to our fundamental freedoms if such practices continued," Perecowicz said.