Man charged after plot to bomb mosque, kill Muslim neighbors in Canada
A 54-year-old man was charged with allegedly threatening to blow up a mosque and a Muslim family’s home in Newmarket, Ontario, amid growing concerns among Canada's Muslim community.
York Regional Police said they were alerted to a hate-motivated incident involving threats against the Muslim community, and at a Monday news conference, Steven Zhou of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) alleged the suspect had planned to blow up a local mosque and a Muslim family’s home.
“The suspect is an HVAC expert. He allegedly said that he would use his expertise in that area to tamper with gas lines, to blow up his Muslim neighbour's home, to kill everyone inside and including, allegedly, the children,” Zhou said, noting that the man had been a neighbor of the targeted family for 14 years.
“The suspect had long befriended this Muslim family, but confided in another neighbour that he had allegedly planned to murder the Muslim family and to blow up the mosque,” he said. The other neighbor then alerted authorities.
According to Zhou, the suspect was also said to have engaged heavily with Islamophobic and anti-Muslim content on the internet.
In a statement read by NCCM Chief Mobilization Officer Omar Khamissa, the father of the targeted family, who asked to remain anonymous, said they are still living in fear.
“The thought that someone living so close to us, within our own community, was consuming and sharing far right, anti-Muslim content and beliefs while planning violent attacks is deeply disturbing and unsettling,” the statement read.
The family called on Canadian authorities to take all necessary measures to protect them and the wider community.
The mosque, which chose not to be named for safety reasons, said that learning about the plot had been “truly sobering and difficult.”
“The mosque is a place for peaceful reflection and communal worship. Had this person been allowed to carry on his plan, it would have turned into a massive tragedy,” the statement said.
The community deserves practical steps to tackle hate crimes, Khamissa said, pointing to a December report by the Standing Committee for Justice and Human Rights that recommended security and infrastructure reforms for mosques and places of worship.
“We have the right to be angry in the face of these threats and attempts to intimidate Muslims in our community. Do we have to wait for more bloodshed before action is actually taken?” he said.
“It is my hope that our experience alerts the people of Newmarket to the severity of this incident and highlights the urgent need to address Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred in our community,” he added.
The investigation is being treated as a hate crime, York police Insp. Stu Garner said. “I'm not going to jeopardize the integrity of the investigation, but what has been conveyed in terms of wanting to blow up the mosque as well as kill a Muslim in his neighbourhood is what we are investigating,” he added.
Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said he spoke with the family and was disturbed by the impact. “To hear just how deeply it impacted this family is disturbing,” he said.
Toronto police statistics show hate crimes in the city rose nearly 55% over the past year.
Muslims in Canada have faced systemic Islamophobia since 9/11, according to a report previously published by the NCCM.
The tragic evolution has resulted in horrific attacks on Muslims. In 2017, a man visited a mosque in Quebec City and gunned down six worshippers and wounded 19.
More recently, in London, Ontario, a man spurred by hate slammed into a Muslim family with his truck, killing four and leaving the lone survivor, a nine-year-old boy, an orphan.
DailySabah
