13-06-2025
Police hate crime unit investigating vandalism at downtown Montreal mosque
Police are investigating after a downtown Montreal mosque was vandalized with the words 'F--- Gaza' in blue spray paint. (Source: Muslim Association of Canada)
Montreal police (SPVM) are investigating after a downtown mosque was vandalized on Tuesday.
The Canadian Institute of Islamic Civilization (CIIC) on Belmont Street, near the intersection of René-Lévesque and Robert-Bourassa boulevards, was vandalized with graffiti, the force confirmed.
The words 'F--- Gaza' were written with blue spray paint on the building in three locations.
Montreal police said they were called to the building on Wednesday and that the hate crime unit is leading the investigation into the incident, which they say is linked to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
No arrests have been made.
mosque montreal vandalism
Police are investigating after a downtown Montreal mosque was vandalized with the words 'F--- Gaza' in blue spray paint. (Source: Muslim Association of Canada)
The vandalism was condemned by the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC), a national charitable organization, which called it a 'vile act' and not an isolated incident.
'It reflects a dangerous national climate in which mosques, Muslims, Palestinians and Canadians who speak out for Gaza are increasingly targeted and vilified,' the group said in a statement earlier this week.
'CIIC and other MAC mosques across the country have received a steady stream of hate in recent months — from threats to online abuse — particularly in response to the genocide in Gaza," the statement reads. 'This convergence of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism is growing, unchecked.'
The association also called on provincial and federal officials to condemn the vandalism and for all levels of government to 'take urgent action to protect Muslim and pro-Palestinian communities and to recognize anti-Palestinian racism as a systemic issue.'
Last week, Montreal police released their annual report for 2024, which showed that residents reported 375 hate crimes (an increase of 6.2 per cent from the previous year) and 202 hate incidents (an increase of 18.1 per cent) last year.
More than half of the reports were based on ethnicity, national origin, or skin colour.
Montreal police define a hate crime as a crime 'motivated or suspected of being motivated by hatred of race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression or any other similar factor.'
Examples include making a Nazi symbol or threatening or physically attacking someone because of their religion.
A hate incident is a non-criminal act, 'which could affect the feeling of security of a person or an identifiable group of people whom, given the context may be perceived as such because of race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression or a disability in particular.'
A hate incident would include distributing offensive material targeting an ethnic group or committing 'vexatious' acts against a person due to their sexual orientation.
Similar acts of vandalism, as well as violent acts like arson and shootings, have also targeted Jewish places of worship in Montreal in the last several months.
