Hundreds of people attended the funeral on Saturday of members of a Canadian Muslim family who were run over by a man with a pick-up truck, killing them in an attack police said was motivated by hatred and Islamophobia.

The funeral began with the arrival of the coffins containing the bodies of the four, wrapped in the Canadian flag, to the compound of the Islamic Center in southwestern Ontario, where the funeral prayer was held and other family members received condolences from religious and social leaders, after which the victims were buried.

The four, representing three generations of the family, were killed when they were run over by Nathaniel Feltman, 20, who were on an evening walk near their home in London, Ontario.

A fifth member of the family survived as a child and is currently in hospital.

According to Canadian police, the victims are two women, aged 74 and 44, a man (46) and a girl (15), while one member of the family survived, a 9-year-old child.

deliberate attack

Police said the attack was premeditated, noting that the family was targeted because they were Muslim.

"The shining fact that the coffins are wrapped in the Canadian flag is a living testimony to the fact that the entire Canadian nation stands with them," said Raza Bashir Tarar, Pakistan's ambassador to Canada, during the funeral.

The family moved from Pakistan to Canada about 14 years ago, and the attack sparked outrage across the country and was condemned by politicians of all stripes.

"Apart from color and creed, expressions of sincere feelings, prayers, quiet tears, and messages of sympathy from people we know and people who are completely strangers, it was the first step towards finding a way to recover," Ali Islam, uncle of Madiha Salman, one of the victims, said at the gathering. .

Feltman appeared in court for a short period on Thursday and will return to it on Monday, facing four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the crime a "terrorist attack" and vowed to crack down on far-right groups and online hate.

On Tuesday, Trudeau and a number of Canadian politicians attended a memorial service for the family who was the victim of the terrorist attack.

Trudeau stressed that the incident was a terrorist attack, and that all of Canada stood with the family.