Gatineau Islamic Center Reports Weeks of Threats, Harassment, Graffiti

IQNA – For worshippers at a Gatineau Islamic center, what should be a place of peace and prayer has instead become a source of anxiety after weeks of harassment, threats, and vandalism—a campaign they say is designed to drive them out of their neighborhood.

The Centre islamique de l’Outaouais in Gatineau, Canada’s Quebec, which includes space for youth programing and a mosque, condemned what it called hateful intimidation in a social media post on Thursday night.

It said the campaign started with threats, then progressed to in-person and online harassment against families. More recently, it's been dealing with graffiti suggesting Muslims don't belong in the area.

The center said whoever is leaving the graffiti is returning to rewrite it after city workers remove it.

In a French-language statement to Radio-Canada Friday, the Gatineau Police Service said it had been informed of hate crimes targeting the Muslim community in the vicinity of the center.

Islamophobic graffiti has been observed repeatedly in the area since July 5, public relations officer Andrée East said.

The incidents were reported to police on July 21, East said. As of Friday, no arrests have been made and the investigation was ongoing, she added.

Hate crimes have risen in Canada and Gatineau in recent years, according to Statistics Canada, with Muslims one of the most-targeted groups.

The center drew attention to this in its post, along with the recent six-month jail sentence of a Gatineau man for threatening a mosque in the western community of Aylmer earlier this year.

Its statement said hatred won't stop it from serving the community, and the center asked political leaders to help end the intimidation.

'Deeply disturbing'

Gatineau Mayor Maude Marquis-Bissonnette said in a French-language statement that she condemns the unacceptable, hateful acts.

She also said police are investigating and that city officials are offering support.

Hull-Aylmer MP Greg Fergus said on social media that he is appalled by the repeated nature of the incidents and that Islamophobic acts are an assault on democratic principles.

"It's deeply disturbing," he told Radio-Canada.

"People always tell me what they love about the place is its diversity and its openness and its friendliness," Fergus said. "And that's what I want to make sure that we maintain."

Source: cbc.ca