Canada police investigating Quran desecration, Islamophobic remarks
Police in Greater Toronto Area or GTA have been investigating two incidents which they believe are "hate-motivated" - with a woman seen placing torn-out pages of the Quran and making Islamophobic comments in one of those incidents.
The woman had also gone to two Islamic centres in Mississauga, around 30km from downtown Toronto, and verbally abused the worshippers.
Police said a man filmed the woman while she was distributing 'inflammatory flyers' and openly saying her name to the passersby, the CBC television reported quoting Harinder Sohi, spokesperson for Peel Regional Police Service.
Peel is one of the five regions along with Central City, York, Durham and Halton that comprise GTA.
Investigators want to speak to the woman involved in the incidents. No arrests have been made, and no charges have been laid, though the incident took place last week.
"We got complaints coming in late last week that on various locations in Mississauga on March 22 that a female was attending Islamic religious centres in the city of Mississauga, and she was tearing pages out of a Quran, leaving these pages on windshields and trying to give some of these pages to the people entering the mosques," Sohi was quoted by the CBC News as saying.
"We have listened to the complaints. Now we are trying to investigate what actually occurred here," he added.
Police did not name the woman but a Facebook page titled Never Again Canada has identified the woman as Sandra Solomon.
Never Again Canada says it fights antisemitism in Canada, and expressed support for Solomon on Facebook on Sunday.
"Sandra Solomon has been portrayed in the news as a hate monger. Sandra was (a) victim of rape, and other horrible things while living under Shariah law. Sandra Solomon is a survivor, and she lives to tell her story. Never Again Canada gives a voice to the voiceless," the post reads.
It did not mention from which country Sandra has migrated to Canada.
Police spokesperson Sohi said the first incident occurred at the Sayeda Khadiji Centre, 7150 Edwards Blvd. at 4:30pm while the second incident occurred at Safa and Marwa Islamic School, which is part of the Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre, at 5550 McAdam Rd. at 5:19pm.
In the second instance, she entered the building that contains the school and a mosque and tried to distribute pamphlets to people inside, Sohi told media.
"Peel Regional Police takes all of these incidents very seriously. We live in a multicultural society. We ask people to be tolerant of others," Sohi added.
The Muslim Council of Peel said in the second incident, the woman entered the Dar Al-Tawheed mosque adjacent to the school, and "verbally abused" worshippers.
Community members and mosque staff asked her to leave, and her actions were reported to Peel police.
Rabia Khedr, executive director of the Muslim Council of Peel, said at a news conference on Monday, "The woman is promoting hatred through her actions and online posts."
Khedr called for "greater police presence to protect the mosque, a strengthening of laws, including the Canadian Human Rights Act" to prevent the spread of hate online, and for the actions of the woman to stop, according to the media reports.
"Our Muslim community is not going to be fazed by someone like her who is trying to promote her personal agenda of hatred simply," the CBC quoted Khedr as saying.
"We are very comfortable in our communities, we are comfortable with our neighbours, and we interact positively with everyone around us on a daily basis. We are not going to let the actions of a fringe person change how safe and comfortable we feel."
Ibrahim Hindy, the imam of Dar Al-Tawheed mosque, said the incident was not the first time that the mosque has been targeted. He said he has received a death threat and staff have reported the previous suspicious behaviour to the police.
"We live in a diverse, multicultural, multi-religious community," he said. "I understand and respect that not everyone is going to agree with my religion, and I am respectful of that."
"We should not have fear coming to our mosques, coming to our safe spaces, coming to our place of sanctuary where we peacefully gather to pray in dignity, tranquillity and serenity."
Navdeep Bains, MP for Mississauga-Malton, said in a statement on Facebook the news of the incident has "shocked" him, and he "strongly" denounced the actions.
