Prime Minister Stephen Harper took time this week to condemn an attack by vandals at a mosque in Gatineau, Que., across the river from Ottawa. “Our government strongly condemns these heinous attacks that have been terrorizing the whole community,” the Prime Minister said in a statement in French.
“Members of the mosque have asked for help in funding infrastructure and security projects and have received funding from our government.”
The Outaouais Islamic Centre was targeted sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning by vandals who spray painted anti-Islamic messages about Allah and Arabs.
It was discovered by a police officer who was taking part in an extra patrol of the building because of repeated vandalism. Mosque officials told reporters there have been four such incidents in the past six months.
On Monday, the windows of cars in the parking lot were smashed and someone had tried to set fire to them.
The Conservative government has taken a special interest in protecting religious freedoms.
A spokesman for Mr. Harper said Friday the government strongly condemns these hateful attacks that terrorize entire communities.
“In 2007, our Conservative Government established the Security Infrastructure Program to assist communities in acquiring equipment to protect their places of worship, schools and community centres,” Carl Vallée told The Globe.
“This particular mosque applied for assistance under the Security Infrastructure Program and they have been granted funding by our Government,” he said. “We encourage anyone with information on any of these incidents to contact their local police as soon as possible.”
Early this year, Mr. Harper moved on a campaign promise to install the Office of Religious Freedom within the Department of Foreign Affairs – a controversial pledge that has drawn accusations of vote pandering and blurring lines between church and state.
The Conservatives are unapologetic about making a defence of the right to worship a central objective of Canadian foreign policy, noting, as a recent Pew Centre study found, that assaults around the world on religious freedom have increased over the past few years.
Original Article
Source: Globe
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