443 results for author: Kashif Ahmed

Tory leader issues new statement on attacks including mention of Muslims

By Mia Rabson The Canadian Press | March 15, 2019 OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer issued two statements on the terrorist attacks in New Zealand on Friday — the second after being criticized for not mentioning in the first that the attack was against Muslims at mosques during their Friday prayers. . . . The National Council of Canadian Muslims criticized the omission in a statement Friday afternoon. “While some of our elected leaders sadly choose not to mention ‘Muslim’ or ‘mosque’ while denouncing the Christchurch attacks, the reality is that these horrific shootings and the Quebec City mosque attack on Jan. ...

The Bissonnette sentencing doesn’t bring closure on Islamophobia

By Ihsaan Gardee The Globe and Mail | February 11, 2019 Ihsaan Gardee is the executive director, National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM). Entering the Québec City courthouse on the day mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette was sentenced, I was cast back in time to another day: when I arrived at the Centre culturel islamique de Québec, the morning after the heinous attack. The street was eerily quiet with only the lights from police cars betraying the violent tragedy that had occurred hours before. What I remember most was the fortitude of the survivors and mosque leaders who would refuse to close their doors amidst horror. I spent ...

Quebec mosque gunman Alexandre Bissonnette sentenced to life in prison

By Ingrid Peritz Globe and Mail | February 8, 2019 Alexandre Bissonnette, who massacred six men at a Quebec City mosque in what a judge called an act of “visceral hate” toward Muslim immigrants, was sentenced Friday to life in prison with no chance of parole for 40 years. . . . Ihsaan Gardee, executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, said the sentence “came as a surprise to many.” “Many people were hoping that a strong sentence would send a message that hate crimes would be taken seriously,” Mr. Gardee said. “Some of them will probably be disappointed with the sentence.” Read full article

Ottawa urged to help mosques, synagogues and religious schools prepare for attacks

By Bruce Campion-Smith Toronto Star | February 6, 2019 OTTAWA — When a gunman opened fire in a Pittsburgh synagogue, there were some in the congregation who knew how to react. . . . Leila Nasr, communications co-ordinator at the National Council of Canadian Muslims, said her group has not made any recommendations for the coming budget. But she said the program is well used by Muslim communities, especially in the wake of the mosque shooting. She said mosques and other institutions are often the target of incidents that don’t make the news but threaten the “sense of peace and security of many mosques and other Islamic organizations...

Amid controversy, Premier Legault admits Islamophobia exists in Quebec

By Philip Authier Montreal Gazette | February 1, 2019 Premier François Legault has backed away from his remarks on Islamophobia, after sparking a controversy by saying it does not exist in Quebec. . . . On Friday morning, the executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) called on Legault to retract the comment, which he made after a caucus meeting of Coalition Avenir Québec MNAs in Gatineau. He had been explaining why he felt there was no reason to designate Jan. 29 — the date six Muslim men were murdered in a mass shooting in Quebec City in 2017 — as anti-Islamophobia Day in Quebec. NCCM executive ...

Muslim groups denounce Quebec Premier Legault’s statements on Islamophobia

The Globe and Mail | February 1, 2018 Premier Francois Legault’s statement that Islamophobia does not exist in Quebec was denounced by Muslim groups as “offensive and inexcusable,” prompting Legault to clarify his statements on Friday. The National Council of Canadian Muslims called on Legault to retract the remarks made Thursday, two days after the second anniversary of a mosque shooting that killed six Muslim men in Quebec City. Ihsaan Gardee, the group’s executive director, said in a statement late Thursday that Legault’s comments “are an absolute insult to the families of the victims and to Muslim communities in Quebec and ...

‘It could have been us’: Canadians rally on two-year anniversary of mosque massacre

By Jillian Kestler-D'Amours Middle East Eye | January 29, 2019 . . . Leila Nasr, communications coordinator for the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), said Muslim communities across Canada are in a sombre mood on the two-year anniversary of the attack. “We're sort of in this period of reflection on what happened in the past, but then also anxiety on what's about to come in the future,” she told Middle East Eye, pointing to the fact that Bissonnette’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for early February. Nasr said the conversation in the immediate aftermath of the attack rightly focused on the Muslim community and the role ...

NCCM Condemns Hateful Intimidation at Edmonton Mosque

-For Immediate Release- Urges Muslim communities to remain vigilant and report suspicious activity to local authorities (Ottawa – January 26, 2019) With the second anniversary of the Quebec City mosque massacre just a few days away, the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) is condemning a hateful incident of intimidation that occurred yesterday at the well-known Al Rashid Mosque in Edmonton Alberta. According to reports a group of individuals connected to Soldiers of Oden and The Clann, known far-right Islamophobic hate groups, entered the Al Rashid Mosque, the oldest operating mosque in Canada, on Friday around prayer services and ...

Muslim group unsurprised by sharp rise in hate crimes

By Laurie Fagan CBC News | November 30, 2018 The head of a national Muslim group based in Ottawa says he's not surprised to learn the number of hate crimes reported to police in Ontario and Quebec jumped dramatically last year. . . . Quebec reported a 50 per cent jump over the same period, with hate crimes rising from 327 in 2016 to 489 in 2017. That increase in attributed largely to crimes against the province's Muslim population, peaking in February 2017, the month following the mass shooting that killed six people at a Quebec City mosque. That trend was mirrored in Ontario, where hate crimes against Muslims saw a 207 per cent increase. ...

Muslim group unsurprised by sharp rise in hate crimes

By Laurie Fagan CBC News | November 30, 2018 The head of a national Muslim group based in Ottawa says he's not surprised to learn the number of hate crimes reported to police in Ontario and Quebec jumped dramatically last year. . . . Quebec reported a 50 per cent jump over the same period, with hate crimes rising from 327 in 2016 to 489 in 2017. That increase in attributed largely to crimes against the province's Muslim population, peaking in February 2017, the month following the mass shooting that killed six people at a Quebec City mosque. That trend was mirrored in Ontario, where hate crimes against Muslims saw a 207 per cent increase. ...