ANTI-MUSLIM BULLYING ON RISE AFTER CANADA ATTACKS

OTTAWA – Reports of anti-Muslim harassment in Canada have risen, Muslim organizations say, after attacks last week in which two soldiers were killed by people authorities say were inspired by the militant group Islamic State.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims said it has seen a tenfold increase in reports of harassment, including racial slurs on public buses, notes left on car windshields and bullying at schools.
Worries about homegrown extremism have risen in Canada after a gunman shot a soldier and charged into the Parliament building in Ottawa on Oct. 22.

Two days earlier, a man rammed two soldiers with his car near Montreal, killing one.

Several Canadian Muslim groups quickly condemned the attacks, which came as Canada sent warplanes to take part in air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq. 
A handful of high-ranking politicians in Canada have also urged residents not to lash out against Muslims.

Adil Charkaoui, coordinator of the Quebec Collective Against Islamophobia, said his group has received 30 complaints of harassment since last week. 

• It marked the largest number of complaints the group has collected since a failed attempt earlier this year by the province’s former government to enact a charter that would ban religious headgear such as Jewish kippas and Muslim hijabs in Quebec’s public workforce, he said.

In Cold Lake, Alberta, home to an air base that has deployed warplanes against Islamic State in Iraq, residents last week banded together to clean and repair a mosque that had been vandalized. After scrubbing away the spray-painted words “Go Home,” the volunteers taped up a sign saying: “You are home.”

This week, an actor was punched in the face by a resident of Hamilton, Ontario,

Source:Agencies