Winnipeg’s Muslim community shaken after shots fired at mosque with people inside, leaders say

Members of Winnipeg’s Muslim community say they’re “deeply shaken” after bullet holes were found in the windows of a mosque that was targeted while people were inside Wednesday night.

“We often believe that incidents like this will not happen to us,” Feisal Adem, the director and imam at Rahma Islamic Centre, said during a Thursday evening news conference at the Watt Street mosque.

He became emotional as he spoke about “the frightening reality” that major incidents of Islamophobia — such as the deadly 2017 attack on a mosque in Quebec City and the 2021 truck attack that killed four members of a Muslim family in London, Ont. — can happen in Winnipeg, too.

“The peace and sense of security that our members once felt have been deeply shaken by this incident.”

Speakers at the news conference said in what is the latest in a string of acts of violence targeting Muslims in Canada, two people drove by and fired shots at the northeast Winnipeg mosque on Wednesday night.

Later that night, two people on foot attacked the building’s walls with what appeared to be a blunt object, breaking glass. The National Council of Canadian Muslims — a non-profit that advocates for civil liberties and human rights — says that incident was caught on security video.

No one was physically harmed during the incidents.

Winnipeg police say patrolling officers spotted freshly broken windows at the mosque around 11:30 p.m. After investigating, they determined a gun “was potentially discharged” toward the mosque, after which the people on foot further damaged the building.

Officers were told that before those incidents, the two people on foot had passed by the mosque earlier Wednesday night and shouted racist comments at people there, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a Thursday news release.

Kadar Ahmed, president of Masjid Bilal — also known as the Winnipeg Islamic Centre — said mosques should be places where people can feel safe to pray, bring their children and to gather as a community.

“There should be no hatred in Manitoba. We are strong in Manitoba,” he said at Thursday’s news conference.

“If you mess with Manitoba people or Winnipeg people, you are messing with the wrong people.”

‘An alarming pattern’

Speakers also pointed to other recent acts targeting Winnipeg’s Muslim community, including smashed windows at Habibiz Café, a Middle Eastern restaurant on Portage Avenue, in January.

Days after that, a swastika was found spray-painted on the Abu Bakr Al-Siddique mosque and community centre.

Sadaf Ahmed, the government affairs and public policy officer for the National Council of Canadian Muslims in Manitoba, said the past month has seen “a significant escalation in violent Islamophobic incidents across our country.”

“This is an alarming pattern,” she said at Thursday’s news conference, calling for “immediate and concrete action,” including investigating Wednesday’s incidents as a targeted hate crime.

“This is a moment for all of us to stand together against hate and intimidation,” she said.

Nellie Kennedy, Manitoba’s minister for culture and heritage, said the incident is “deeply troubling.”

“There is no place for hate in Manitoba,” she said at the news conference.

Her government is “proud to say loud and clear that this type of attack will never be acceptable in Manitoba,” and will fund repairs for the mosque, she said.

‘Everyone’s very shaken’

Both Prime Minister Mark Carney and Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham issued statements about the incident. Carney said in a Facebook post he was “deeply disturbed” to learn about the attack.

Gillingham said in a social media post there is “no one should feel unsafe in a place of worship or community gathering.”

Earlier Thursday, Steven Zhou, a spokesperson for the National Council of Canadian Muslims, says the people who attend the Winnipeg mosque “have a tough time wrapping their heads around this kind of incident.”

“We hear about things that happened in some other cities or whatever as an abstract problem, but I think everyone’s very shaken that this thing’s kind of hitting home.”

Winnipeg police say they are treating the incidents as potential-hate motivated crimes. No suspects have been identified and no arrests have been made, a police spokesperson said.

Police say they intend to increase patrols and a police presence at the Islamic centre and in and around other mosques in the area.

Damage to the mosque is estimated at more than $3,000, police said.