Montreal police are investigating a suspected hate crime after a package was found outside an Islamic centre in the city’s Verdun borough on Sunday.
The Canadian Muslim Forum said the package contained what appeared to be an imitation severed human hand covered in fake blood.
Police said they received a 911 call around 2:30 p.m. reporting that one or more suspects had left a plastic bag containing an object covered in a red substance at the entrance of the Islamic Centre of Verdun. The substance is being analyzed.
The centre serves as a mosque and community hub, offering daily prayers and religious, educational and community programming.
Police met with the centre’s director and transferred the case to the force’s hate crimes and incidents unit, which is reviewing surveillance footage from the area. No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The Canadian Muslim Forum said the incident occurred during a weekend gathering attended by families, children, women, and worshippers.
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“Children were frightened, families were shaken, and a place of worship and community gathering was turned into a scene of anxiety and intimidation,” it said.
“This incident does not occur in a vacuum,” the organization said, adding it comes amid “a troubling rise in Islamophobia, online hate, and divisive rhetoric that increasingly targets Canadians of Muslim faith.”
Statistics Canada said in March that hate crimes reported to police in Canada increased from 1,817 in 2018 to 4,882 in 2024.
Incidents involving Islamophobia in Canada nearly tripled, growing from 84 reported crimes to 229, over the same period.
–with files from The Canadian Press