Nine Islamic schools across Canada receive threatening email vowing 'slaughter'

Nine schools run by the Muslim Association of Canada received an anonymous threatening email across Ontario, B.C. and Quebec. Multiple police forces have launched investigations and increased patrols.

Muslim Association of Canada schools on high alert after hate-motivated threats

Nine Islamic schools operated by the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) are on high alert after receiving a threatening email this week, Global News Crime reports. Multiple police forces across the country have launched investigations.

Spokesperson Nabil Sultan said the same anonymous email was sent to schools in Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec over a 24-hour period. The email, signed by a "Citizen Vigilante" and shared with The Canadian Press, threatens the "slaughter" of Muslims and vows that Canada will be "Islam free."

Sultan, whose own child attends a MAC school, said he was devastated upon reading the letter. The organization has since hired paid security to protect students. While MAC is accustomed to receiving threatening and Islamophobic correspondence, Sultan said this is the first time its schools have been targeted so directly.

Police increase patrols near mosques and schools

Police in Ontario's Peel region confirmed Friday they are aware of a letter "containing hate-motivated threats" against Islamic institutions and have increased overnight patrols near mosques and schools, with those measures continuing through the weekend. The force's hate crime unit is investigating.

London, Ont., and Waterloo Region police said they are also investigating threatening emails sent to Islamic schools and are aware of similar threats in other jurisdictions. Waterloo officers visited at least one school and conducted safety planning with staff. Ottawa police said they have increased visibility at affected locations but noted there is no indication of a "specific or imminent threat."

Minister condemns threats as 'unacceptable'

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree issued a statement saying he is "deeply disturbed" by the threats. "Every child deserves to learn in safety, and every family deserves to feel secure sending their child to school," he wrote. "These threats are unacceptable and have no place in Canada."

Rising Islamophobia cited as backdrop

Sultan placed the threats within what he described as a broader pattern of rising Islamophobia in Canada. He pointed to the 2021 killings of four members of the Afzaal family in London, Ont. — ruled an act of terrorism — and a 2017 shooting at a Quebec City mosque that left six worshippers dead.

The latest data from Statistics Canada shows police-reported hate crimes against Muslims rose by more than 170 per cent between 2020 and 2024.

Sultan said students are feeling "scared and vulnerable" as they walk past security personnel and police officers on their way to class. "These threats are real, and we know that they are real," he said. "The targeting of children, the targeting of schools, in that kind of way is something that shook us to our core."

He added that the threats undermine the values MAC tries to instil in its students. "All of the things that we try to teach our children in these schools is that they are equal to any other Canadian, that they have equal rights and responsibilities," Sultan said. "Threats like this really make them question if they belong because of the way they pray and because of their faith."

Sultan argued Canada needs to confront an "environment of Islamophobia and xenophobia" that he said fosters threats against Muslims and other visible minorities.

Source: Global News Crime