Muslim Council of Montreal calls on government to help fight Islamaphobia

November 5, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Montreal, Quebec, November 5th, 2013 - The Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM) calls on the government to recognize the growing number of attacks against Canadian Muslims and the rise in acts of Islamaphobia and to take concrete steps to effectively address this problem.

“The government must at last acknowledge this growing problem and accept their responsibility towards all citizens,” stated Salam Elmenyawi, president of MCM. “They must stop instigating division and suspicion against religious minority groups and instead take serious steps to stop this hatred and violence and help promote respect, tolerance and understanding. They must also make sure to take proper counsel with the Muslim community, as opposed to dealing with biased individuals who only help to enforce negative and false stereotypes about minorities.”

MCM further calls on the Montreal police department to acknowledge their role in combatting Islamaphobia and hate crimes.

“There is a serious need for specialized training within the police department, to learn about hate crimes, how to recognize them, report them and fight them,” Elmenyawi said. “It must be clear and that according to the criminal code of Canada, any speech that creates hate is a crime and there must be zero tolerance for this.”

 

 

CONTACT:

Salam Elmenyawi

Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM)

Ph.: (514) 748-8427

E-mail: muslimcouncil@gmail.com

Website: http://www.muslimcouncil.org

  

 

 The Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM) is an umbrella organization representing a number of Islamic institutions in the Montreal region. There are over 325,000 Muslims in Montreal, about 1,300,000 in Canada and 1.9 billion worldwide.

                                                                                     

                                                                                     

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