Toronto Mayor John Tory says it appears the vandalism at a Scarborough mosque was meant to “send a message” to the Muslim community.
Monday evening, Tory and City Councillor Gary Crawford visited the Baitul Jannah Islamic Center after the mosque was found vandalized early Sunday morning.
The office was found ransacked, multiple prayer rooms were vandalized, several copies of the Quran were thrown on the floor and two donation boxes were smashed.
After seeing the damage, Tory said it appears whoever vandalized the mosque wanted to leave an unwelcome message for its members.
“There's evidence from what you can see that the people who did this may have been trying to steal things but they also looked like they were trying to send a message of some kind. And it wasn't a message of the kind of friendliness and solidarity that we expect in the city between and among different faith groups and so on,” Tory told reporters.
Police said it's believed someone broke into the mosque Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
Investigators said there is no evidence to suggest that the incident was hate motivated but the hate crimes unit has been notified out of an abundance of caution.
Officials from the mosque say it has been targeted several times since 2018, with similar acts of vandalism and theft.
Mahbubul Alam, Amir of Mosque Baitul Jannah, said he came to the mosque at around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday for morning prayer when he discovered the damage.
“This is very heartbreaking. This is the first time in Toronto I faced this type of problem and 22 years I have been living here,” Alam told CP24.
Tory said the city needs to stand in solidarity to denounce any acts of disrespect to the Muslim community and all groups of faith.
“We must as a people in the city, all of us without exception, stand together with people like the members of this faith community here to say that this kind of damage, this kind of intrusion, this kind of of destruction that's taken place and disrespect, has no place in the city and that whatever the motivation was that it is not right,” he said.
Tory said he is continuing talks with the Muslim community about what action can be taken to protect the group from further acts of violence.
“I've had two extensive lengthy meetings with representatives of the community, this faith community and others, and I will continue to have those meetings and we will continue to work on implementing the things they told us, which include public education, strengthening the laws, making sure the police are providing adequate security to these faith communities, and a number of other things,” he said.
No information on suspects has been released and police have not said if the latest incident is connected to previous acts of vandalism.
-With files from The Canadian Press.
