ARPCF Condemns Hate Crime at Montreal Islamic Centre

This horrifying act of intimidation targeted a space where families, children, women, and worshippers gather for prayer, education, and community life. The ARPCF expresses its solidarity with the Islamic Centre of Verdun and with all community members who were frightened and shaken by this incident.

“This incident does not occur in isolation. It comes amid a widespread pattern of Islamophobia in Canada, where Muslim communities are repeatedly forced to defend their safety, belonging, and dignity,” said Jamila Ewais, Lead Researcher of the ARPCF. “Only days ago, a Palestinian Muslim family in Thunder Bay was targeted in a hate-motivated assault while walking with young children and an elderly parent. Together, these incidents reveal the urgent need to confront Islamophobia not as a series of isolated acts, but as a structural problem sustained by racist narratives, political indifference, and inadequate institutional responses.”

This attack must be understood within the broader climate of Islamophobia that continues to spread across Canada through media narratives, political discourse, and online platforms. Muslims are too often portrayed as foreign, threatening, violent, or incompatible with Canadian values, and these dehumanizing narratives do not remain abstract. They shape public perception, embolden harassment, and create conditions in which Muslim communities are made to feel unsafe even in their places of worship. When anti-Muslim rhetoric is normalized in public debate or circulated unchecked online, it contributes to a climate where symbolic violence can escalate into threats, vandalism, and physical attacks.

The ARPCF urges public officials, media institutions, and civil society leaders to condemn this incident clearly and to address the broader ecosystem of Islamophobia that enables such acts. Protecting Muslim communities requires more than responding after harm occurs; it requires sustained anti-racism education, stronger protections for religious and community spaces, accountability for hate speech and harassment, and a public commitment to challenging the narratives that make Muslims, Palestinians, Arabs, and racialized communities vulnerable to intimidation and violence.