B.C. Attorne General Condemns Islamophobic Hate Incident at Surrey Mosque

British Columbia’s Attorney General, Niki Sharma, is forcefully condemning Islamophobia following a targeted hate incident at the Fleetwood Islamic Centre in Surrey over the weekend.

Members of the Fleetwood Islamic Academy Society congregation arrived for early morning prayers between Friday night and Saturday morning to find their facility vandalized with threatening graffiti, including messages such as "get out or die" and "Islam is trash," alongside pieces of raw bacon hung on door handles and placed near windows.

Expressing her solidarity with the local Muslim community, Sharma stated that her heart goes out to all those affected by these disturbing threats of violence, emphasizing that hate and bigotry have no place in the province.

The Fleetwood Islamic Academy Society issued a statement noting that the community is actively cooperating with law enforcement while processing the trauma of the attack. Representatives highlighted that the placement of pig matter outside their place of worship is particularly chilling, drawing painful parallels to a similar incident at a Quebec City mosque shortly before a deadly mass shooting in 2017.

Surrey RCMP confirmed that officers were called to investigate the hate crime, which is believed to have taken place between 11:00 p.m. on Friday and 5:00 a.m. on Saturday. Local police continue to review evidence and urge anyone with information or footage from the area to come forward as they work to identify those responsible. Investigators are looking to identify an individual who was observed on video surveillance at the Fleetwood Islamic Center before the alleged incident took place.

Investigators are looking to identify an individual who was observed on video surveillance at the Fleetwood Islamic Center before the alleged incident took place.The suspect is described as a male, wearing a dark green hoodie with red lettering on the front, dark cargo pants, and red shoes with white soles, and carrying a blue bag. He is believed to be driving a small, white four-door sedan