Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Islamophobia and right-wing extremism have no place in our society following threats to a Toronto mosque.
He said he is “deeply disturbed” after a Toronto mosque received a sinister threat referencing the Christchurch terror attacks, and vowed to do more to counter anti-Muslim hatred.
“Islamophobia and hate have no place in our country, and this kind of behavior and language will not be tolerated. We must do more to counter hatred and we will,” Trudeau said on Twitter, responding to a letter posted on the social media site by Canada’s Muslim Caucus, the Middle East Eye reported.
The letter addressed an incident from the weekend in which an unidentified mosque in Toronto received an email saying: “we have the guns to do a Christ church all over again”.
The mosque in question was not identified due to an uptick in attacks in the Toronto area this year. Toronto police said they are currently investigating the threats.
“We have watched with growing concern acts of violence that have occurred around the world due to racism, Islamophobia, and white supremacy,” the Caucus said, which consists of Muslim MPs.
While acknowledging the work being done by the federal government to combat hate and white supremacy, the Caucus said that “incidents of hate, violence, and murder continue to occur and far-right hate groups fester on dark corners of the web and in person”.
“We recognize much more needs to be done. Lives are being lost, and there is deep concern. We have a responsibility to do more,” the MPs said.
