News Releases & Statements


NCCM CONDEMNS DISGUSTING VANDALISM OF PROMINENT OTTAWA MUSLIM CENTRE

October 24th, 2023  NCCM is troubled by yet another incident of mosque vandalism, this time in a high-traffic area of Ottawa. On the morning of Sunday, October 22nd, 2023, a man approached the front door of the mosque and center, located in a prominent part of Ottawa (click here for video). Leaders of the space have chosen to keep the identity of the mosque anonymous.   Caught on surveillance camera, the man is shown (with his face quite clearly visible) using plastic material to smear feces all over the center doors.   When the manager of the mosque arrived ...

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STATEMENTS FROM NCCM AND THE FAMILY OF MOHAMMAD ABU MARZOUK FOLLOWING SENTENCING

May 9th, 2023  (Mississauga, ON) - The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) notes the sentencing today of two brothers who assaulted two Muslim men over four years ago in Mississauga, Ontario.  Mohammed Abu Marzouk, then 39 years old, was driving his wife and children near the Mississauga Valley Community Centre on July 15th, 2018 when he was beaten viciously by two men who also yelled racist anti-Arab slurs towards him and his family.  The judge had strong words in noting the hate-motivation of the assault as an aggravating factor at sentencing. Abu ...

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BREAKING NEWS: ONTARIO GOVERNMENT TAKES MUCH NEEDED STEP AND PROVIDES SECURITY GUARD FUNDING TO RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AT RISK IN LINE WITH NCCM ASK

May 5th, 2023 (Toronto, Ontario) — NCCM welcomes today’s announcement by the Government of Ontario to expand the Ontario Anti-Hate Security and Prevention Grant.  The $25M increase in finding is a necessary step towards helping a large number of cultural and faithbased organizations across the province to beef up their facilities’ security against possibly hateful actors and crimes.  The commitment also expands the list of eligible community organizations that can apply, as well as the kinds of security related items that can be expended. Most importantly, ...

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BREAKING NEWS: AFTER YEARS OF ADVOCACY, NCCM WELCOMES BILL LEGISLATING “DUTY OF CANDOUR” FOR CSIS AND NATIONAL SECURITY ESTABLISHMENT

(Ottawa - May 2nd, 2023) NCCM welcomes the tabling of legislation that attempts to hold our national security establishment accountable. Bill C-411, “An Act to amend the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act (duty of candour),” takes steps to help ensure that security officials do not lie in order to operate above the law.   We thank MP Salma Zahid of Scarborough for tabling Bill C-411, which would help restore faith among many Canadians in their national security institutions, including CSIS, Canada’s spy agency, and the RCMP. CSIS agents and other ...

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NCCM WELCOMES TDSB’S HISTORIC UNANIMOUS VOTE TO ADOPT ANTI-ISLAMOPHOBIA STRATEGY

(Toronto - April 27, 2023) NCCM welcomes the Toronto District School Board’s latest unanimous vote this Wednesday to adopt and implement a board-wide anti-Islamophobia strategy. We thank TDSB trustees Neethan Shan and Liban Hassan for first putting forth the “Addressing Islamophobia” motion. We look forward to working with all stakeholders to ensure that this strategy is robust and implemented effectively. We have long had a strong working relationship with the TDSB to support anti-racist and anti-Islamophobia initiatives, while advocating for Muslim ...

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NCCM OUTRAGED AFTER BLACK MUSLIM EDMONTONIAN LEAVING EID FRIDAY PRAYER SUBJECTED TO EXCESSIVE FORCE BY EDMONTON POLICE

(Edmonton – April 23, 2023) The National Council of Canadian Muslims is greatly disturbed and concerned in relation to the case of an Edmonton man who was apparently subjected to excessive force by Edmonton Police Service officers after being pulled over on the day of Eid with his family. The victim, who will not be named to protect his family’s privacy, is a Black Muslim man who has been a long-time resident of Edmonton. On April 21, the victim was leaving a Southside mosque in his vehicle after praying the congregational Friday prayer on the day of Eid with his ...

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NCCM AND CCLA CONDEMN QUEBEC GOVERNMENT’S OPPRESSION OF CHILDREN’S RELIGIOUS RIGHTS

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) strongly denounce the banning of most forms of prayer in Quebec schools. On April 5th, Quebec’s Minister of Education Bernard Drainville issued a directive banning schools from using classrooms (and other school facilities) for prayer, while allowing students to pray quietly and discreetly on their own. This directive is a significant shift from his original position in favor of multi-confessional prayer spaces. Prayer spaces in schools exist to accommodate students ...

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UPDATED NATIONAL INHERENT RISK ASSESSMENT ISSUED BY FINANCE CANADA TAKES POSITIVE STEP FORWARD

(Ottawa – March 28, 2023) The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) and leading community organizations across Canada have been calling for reform to challenge how government agencies have unfairly targeted racialized communities. Today, the Ministry of Finance put forward an updated risk assessment model that has taken positive steps toward addressing problems of bias and systemic racism. NCCM had long identified the challenge of a biased risk assessment model in a March 2021 joint report published with the University of Toronto’s Institute of Islamic ...

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NCCM URGES GOVERNMENT TO TAKE ACTION IN LIGHT OF TAXPAYERS’ OMBUDSPERSON’S REPORT

(Ottawa – March 27, 2023) The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) renews its call urging the federal government to suspend the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) Review and Analysis Division (RAD) in light of the report by the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson’s report, “Charity Begins with Fairness: More to Explore.” The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson’s report follows from direction given after the 2021 National Summit on Islamophobia, where community organizations raised concerns about systemic biases in the CRA’s audits of Muslim-led Canadian charitable ...

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NSIRA REVIEW OF THE CRA IS NOT ENOUGH

(Mar 14, 2023 – Toronto)  The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) and leading community organizations across Canada have been calling for the suspension of the Review and Analysis Division (RAD) at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), pending a review of systemic racism and Islamophobia at the for two years. Today, the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) announced a fulsome review on CRA’s unfair audit practices. We do not accept calling for yet another review as a solution into systemic racism at the CRA. The RAD remains operational in ...

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