Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke out against Islamophobia and right-wing extremism on Tuesday following threats against a Toronto mosque, saying Canadians must oppose hatred of any kind.
But the National Council of Canadian Muslims, which sounded the alarm bells over the weekend’s threats, said the federal government must have a plan to counter the hatred that goes beyond condemning the problem. Trudeau wrote on Twitter Monday evening that he was deeply concerned about the reported threats, which were under investigation by police, and pledged to do more to fight hate.
On Tuesday, he said the threats were unacceptable. Asked about the details of a possible plan to deal with such incidents, the prime minister’s office did not respond immediately.
Mustafa Farouk, president of the National Council of Muslims of Canada, said a national strategy was needed. He added that the commitments are good, but we must act now. The organization said the Toronto Mosque, which it declined to name due to fear of further threats or violence, received several threatening emails around 3 a.m. on Saturday morning.
He added that the posts threatened to kill all Muslims and referred to two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, where a gunman killed 51 people in 2019.
One of the letters mentioned, according to Mr. Farouk, we have the weapons to remake Christchurch.
The Liberal Rally of Muslim Parliamentarians said on Monday it would meet with Prime Minister Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair in the coming days to discuss the issue.
He announced that the government had made progress in the fight against white supremacists, including adding two extremist organizations to the list of terrorist entities. Yet hateful, violent or even fatal incidents continue to occur, and far-right groups are filtering into dark corners of the web or the same person, the party rally said. We know there is still a long way to go.
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