The swastika symbol is painted on the outside wall of the Islamic Center in Cambridge, Canada (Canadian Press)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau strongly condemned the acts of vandalism against the Islamic Center in Cambridge, stressing that he stands with Islamic communities against this hatred.
Trudeau said in a tweet on the X website, “The rise in Islamophobia across the country is alarming, abhorrent, and unacceptable, and we must confront and fight Islamophobia together.”
Waterloo police are investigating hate-motivated graffiti on the walls of the Islamic Center in Cambridge.
Police reported that they received a report last Monday about graffiti on the walls of the center, located on Dunbar Road.
The center announced that this is the first time it has witnessed this type of hate-motivated crime since its establishment in 1989.
In January 2023, Canada appointed its first Special Representative to Combat Islamophobia (hatred of Islam), a position created after a recent series of attacks targeting Muslims in the country.
A statement issued by the Canadian Prime Minister's Office at the time said that journalist and activist Amira Al-Ghawabi would fill the position "to be an advocate, advisor, expert and representative to support and strengthen the federal government's efforts to combat Islamophobia, systemic racism, racial discrimination and religious intolerance."
Over recent years, a series of bloody attacks have targeted Canadian Muslims. In June 2021, 4 members of a Muslim family were killed when someone ran them over with his truck in Ontario.
Four years before that, 6 Muslims were killed and 5 were injured in an attack on a mosque in Quebec City.
Source: Al Jazeera + Western Press