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Multiple police forces are investigating threats made to Islamic schools across the country after the Muslim Association of Canada said nine of its schools received an email this week threatening violence.
Spokesperson Nabil Sultan said the same anonymous email was sent to schools in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec over a 24-hour period.
The email, shared with The Canadian Press and signed by a “Citizen Vigilante,” threatens the “slaughter” of Muslims and vows Canada will be “Islam free.”
Sultan, whose own child attends a MAC school, said he was devastated to read the letter, and that MAC has hired paid security to keep students safe.
He said the organization is used to receiving threatening and Islamophobic emails, but this is the first time the non-profit’s schools have been targeted in such a direct way.
Police in Ontario’s Peel region said Friday they’re aware of a letter “containing hate-motivated threats” against Islamic institutions and have increased police patrols overnight near mosques and schools, which will continue into the weekend.
The force said its hate crime unit is investigating.
Police in London, Ont., and the province’s Waterloo region said they’re also investigating threatening emails sent to Islamic schools, and that they’re aware of similar threats made in other jurisdictions.
Officers visited a school and conducted safety planning with school officials, Waterloo police said.
Meanwhile, Ottawa police said they have increased police visibility at the locations that received the letters but there is no indication of a “specific or imminent threat.”
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree wrote in a statement that he is “deeply disturbed” by the threats.
“Every child deserves to learn in safety, and every family deserves to feel secure sending their child to school,” he wrote. “These threats are unacceptable and have no place in Canada.”
Sultan said the threats against MAC’s schools come amid a backdrop of rising Islamophobia in Canada.
He pointed to recent atrocities against Muslim communities, including the 2021 killings of four members of the Afzaal family in London, Ont., which was ruled an act of terrorism, as well as a 2017 shooting at a Quebec City mosque that left six worshippers dead.
“These threats are real, and we know that they are real,” Sultan said. “The targeting of children, the targeting of schools, in that kind of way is something that shook us to our core.”
The latest data from Statistics Canada shows the number of police-reported hate crimes against Muslims rose by more than 170 per cent between 2020 and 2024.
Sultan said students are feeling “scared and vulnerable” as they walk past security and police officers on their way to class, and that the threats have raised tough questions about who gets to be considered Canadian and who is labelled an outsider.
“All of the things that we try to teach our children in these schools is that they are equal to any other Canadian, that they have equal rights and responsibilities,” Sultan said. “Threats like this really make them question if they belong because of the way they pray and because of their faith.”
He argued Canada needs to address an “environment of Islamophobia and xenophobia” that breeds threats against Muslims and other visible minorities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2026.
Kathryn Mannie, The Canadian Press
Correction
This is a corrected story. A previous version of the CP story erroneously said five members of the Afzaal family were killed in 2021.
