Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned recent Islamophobic attacks in London, Ontario and Winnipeg, Manitoba, as anti-Muslim sentiment continues to escalate in the West amid Israel’s ongoing attacks and provocations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
“I’m angry to learn that women wearing hijabs were the target of a violent attack in London, and a mosque in Winnipeg was the target of hateful harassment,” Trudeau said on his official X account on Friday.
According to a statement by the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), two women wearing the Muslim headscarf were attacked Thursday in front of their children in London, where four members of a Muslim family were killed in a ruthless attack in 2021.
The statement noted that a knife-wielding man punched the women in their faces and made inappropriate comments. “The Israelis did a good job of landscaping Gaza. They’ll do the same to Lebanon,” and other slurs of an Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian nature,” according to NCCM.
“Needless to say, the incident amounts to yet another disturbing example of how Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism, often intersecting, continues to pervade corners of our communities, primarily targeting the vulnerable,” the civil rights organization said, adding that anti-Muslim hatred led to the killing of the Muslim family three years ago, and earlier this year, a Muslim family’s house was set on fire due to anti-Palestinian racism.
“It is time to act. Now. There is no time for more platitudes and words. Our leaders have to come up with a real plan to address this massive and disturbing rise in hate against our communities,” NCCM statement said.
No details were provided about the attack on the mosque in Winnipeg, in the country’s central Manitoba province.
A horrific mosque attack in Quebec province, where a lone gunman killed six Muslims and wounded 19 during evening prayers, shook the North American country in 2017.
In June 2021, four members of a Muslim family, who were out on a stroll in London, Ontario, were killed after a white nationalist man deliberately drove his truck into them. Countless other attacks occur on an ordinary basis, as Muslims across the country urge the government to take concrete action to stop the crimes.
Islamophobia is entrenched in Canada, according to a report by the country's Senate Committee on Human Rights.
