A man carries a sign during a vigil for victims of the mosque shootings in New Zealand, in Toronto in 2019.CHRIS HELGREN/Reuters
Sheema Khan is the author of Of Hockey and Hijab: Reflections of a Canadian Muslim Woman.
Last Friday, a Montreal mosque suffered fire damage from a burning vehicle adjacent to the building, and it remains closed to worshippers while authorities investigate possible arson.
This occurred after a violent attack on a Winnipeg mosque last Wednesday; shots were fired and windows broken, while patrons (including children) were inside. Politicians, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, condemned the incident, saying “this violent act of Islamophobia is appalling and has no place in Canada.”
Canada has seen a surge in antisemitic incidents in recent months. It has also seen a deluge of Islamophobic acts, leaving many Muslims feeling isolated, unwelcome and fearful for their safety.
Opinion: We shouldn’t turn a blind eye to assaults on Muslim women
In July, a Muslim woman suffered serious injuries after being repeatedly punched at a community event in Moncton. In a disturbing video of the attack, people yell “you’re in our fucking country, get the fuck out of here.” On Canada Day, a man in Thunder Bay was hospitalized after an attack while out with his wife, mother and children. The women, visibly Muslim, were accosted by an assailant yelling “Fuck Muslims;” he assaulted the man after being told to leave the women alone.
There were more in the same month. A fake severed and bloodied hand was left outside an Islamic Centre in Verdun. (For Quebec Muslims, it was reminiscent of a pig’s head left outside the Islamic Centre of Quebec, just weeks before six worshippers were murdered inside.) Two visibly Muslim women were harassed by a woman at Parliament Hill, who denigrated their attire and told them to “go back to their toxic sand land.” At a Halifax Costco, two hijabi women were told by a man to “get the fuck out of the country.” When others intervened, he repeated “we’re killin’ every fucking one of you.” And a Winnipeg man, self-identifying as “extremely racist,” pled guilty to advocating genocide after posting online a call for the murder of Muslims and burning down mosques.
June wasn’t much better. An imam in Victoria was physically assaulted while sitting in his car, by a man who forced open his door and told him to “go back to his country.” In Clarington, Ont., a Muslim owner of a hobby farm and his family were threatened online, confronted physically, and subject to nefarious drones on their property due to an online disinformation campaign that falsely accused the family of slaughtering animals, including Canada geese. Classes at a private Islamic school in Hamilton, Ont., were cancelled for safety, after one of the school’s busses was vandalized with the message “fuck Muslims.” A local Vancouver business displayed an offensive sign reading, “Entry of Mullahs is strictly prohibited, dogs are welcome.” (After the threat of legal action, the sign was removed.) In Regina, a group organized a pork-only BBQ on public property in front of a mosque. In Edmonton, hateful graffiti was found near a daycare for Muslim children, while a Moncton mosque was targeted with vandalism and graffiti, for a third time. Parts of Kitchener-Waterloo saw posters depicting Muslims as the enemy and the phrase “Islam is evil.” In Winnipeg, a man praying at a local park was subject to hateful abuse by a bystander.
May, too, was a violent month. A Muslim man, driving away from a mosque in St. Albert, Alta., with his wife, was cut off by an assailant who used racial slurs and beat him viciously; he was treated for lacerations. In Edmonton, a hijab-clad woman was the victim of a hit-and-run in a parking lot, after being subject to xenophobic abuse.
And April was quite awful. A hijabi bus passenger in Durham, Ont., was physically assaulted after being called a terrorist. A Gatineau mosque received an e-mail message: “I can’t wait to kill all of you”; police found a handgun and four airguns at the suspect’s home. The president of the Muslim Students’ Association at the University of Calgary received this chilling message: “Get out of Alberta and Canada before you are utterly slaughtered.”
Twenty-one violent incidents in four months – this is a crisis requiring a strong response from government, law enforcement, the courts and civil society.
Local communities can play a key role in strengthening social cohesion. This was demonstrated by the good people of Clarington, who came together at a town hall to support the harassed Muslim family, and stand firmly against fear-mongering.
Human connection is a powerful currency in this more isolated digital age, as we can learn we share much in common. Our hearts, like this land, are expansive enough to offer comfort and solidarity in the face of hatred. The Clarington approach can serve as a blueprint for strengthening communities across Canada against Islamophobia, antisemitism, and hate in general.