By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
OTTAWA, Canada – A mosque in northeastern Alberta was recently vandalized on Thursday when a brick was thrown though its windows and a message which read “go home” was spray painted in red on the exterior of the building. The community of Cold Lake responded by rallying both non-Muslim and Muslim neighbors to aid in the clean up of the damage.
A group of citizens, including business leaders and other influential members of the community patched up the broken windows with temporary cardboard signs that read, “love your neighbor,” and “you are home.” The community showed members of the mosque support on Friday assuring them they’re welcome in the community. Members of the mosque also gathered and placed posters, flowers, and gifts from various community members and displayed them by the windows that were smashed.
A member of the mosque’s board, Mahmoud El-Kadri, originally discovered the vandalism at about 6 a.m. on Friday when he arrived at the mosque for Morning Prayer. He responded to the vandalism by stating, “the writing hurts. This is my home, this is our home. This is the only home we have. Cold Lake is our home. Canada is our home.”
The vandalism occurred just a week after six CF-18 Hornet fighter jets took off from 4 Wing Cold Lake, the country’s busiest fighter aircraft base. The jets were targeting Iraq, as part of an air combat mission, dubbed Operation IMPACT. This is part of coalition air strikes, which are targeting the Muslim extremist group, The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) also known as ISIS. The missions goal is to degrade ISIL’s ability to carry out any military operations against the citizens of the Republic of Iraq.
The vandalism also comes just days after radicalized Muslim men killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo in Ottawa on Wednesday and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent in Quebec just days earlier.
For more information, please see the following:
CBC NEWS –Town rallies around vandalized Cold Lake Mosque – 24 Oct. 2014.
THE EDMONTON SUN – Cold Lake Mosque Vandalized With Words ‘ Go Home’-24 Oct. 2014.
HUFFINGTON POST –Cold Lake Mosque Vandalized with Words ‘Go Home’ – 24 Oct. 2014.
THE TORONTO STAR – Mosque Vandalized in Cold Lake, Alberta – 24 Oct. 2014.
