Hamilton Muslims uneasy after shooting in Scarborough
Hamilton Muslim leaders are urging their community to be extra vigilant in the wake of last Saturday's drive-by shootings at a strip mall in Scarborough that wounded five men who had just finished Ramadan prayers at a nearby mosque.
What happened in Scarborough is bringing back raw memories of what happened in Jan. 29, 2017, Quebec City mosque shooting," when a gunman killed six worshippers and injured five more, said Hamilton Mountain Mosque Imam Sayed Tora on Tuesday.
The Scarborough shooting, which occurred just after 1 a.m. Saturday in the parking lot of a strip mall, left five men seriously injured. They had gathered there shortly after Ramadan prayers at a nearby mosque to discuss where to go eat, according to media reports. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, and often break their fast communally with family and friends. The shooting is being investigated by Toronto police's hate crime unit but police have not released a motive.
Hamilton police say they immediately increased their patrols around local mosques and Muslim community centres on news of the shootings and reached out to the city's Muslim community leaders.
We are continuing to monitor this situation closely," said Hamilton Police Service spokesperson Jackie Penman in an email. With officers requested to pay special attention to Hamilton mosques and other Muslim facilities, we hope the increased police visibility will reassure community members while also deterring possible incidents."
Nevertheless, Hamilton Muslims are rattled, especially as they go into the last 10 nights of the holy month of Ramadan, Tora said. We're concerned because we're going to have some extended prayers late into the pre-dawn hours."
People are worried and no matter how much you try as a leader to keep people in the congregation calm, people have that anxiety feeling no matter what."
Police have seen an increase in hate occurrences against members of the Muslim community and will be releasing their 2021 Hate Crime Statistical Report later this month, Penman said.
Hamilton's Muslim community is fairly united and confident that the city's civic leadership will take care of their needs, said Javid Mirza, president of the Muslim Association of Hamilton. Over the years when we had incidents, the Hamilton police and the local leadership have been pretty good, but one crazy person can do something stupid at any time."
Tora said it's time to act on the recommendations of the National Action Summit on Islamophobia held in the wake of an attack on a Muslim family in London, Ont., in June last year. The family was out walking when they were hit by a vehicle, seriously injuring a young boy and killing his mother, father, sister and grandmother.
We have to call out" Islamophobia, he said. We have a lot of sugar-coating and we have to have some tangible actions in our communities to feel safe."
Paul Morse is a Hamilton-based reporter at the Spectator. Reach him via email at pmorse@thespec.com