Police have charged a 35-year-old Cambridge man in relation to the Wednesday break-in and vandalism at Baitul Kareem Mosque that caused thousands of dollars in damages.
The arrest was announced in a Tweet from Waterloo Regional Police shortly before 1 p.m. Saturday.
A 35-year-old Cambridge male has been arrested in connection to this investigation.
— Waterloo Regional Police (@WRPSToday) July 17, 2021
He has been charged with Break and Enter, Property Damage Over $5,000, Possession of Stolen Property, as well as CDSA offences. https://t.co/4TBaiC0jCU
One or more people tore through the Elliott Street mosque and destroyed boxes filled with religious books and flyers in a daytime rampage.
They also stole a hard drive for a security system, suggesting they knew what they were doing and it wasn't some random act of destruction, according to the mosque's Imam.
Speaking to local radio personality Mike Farwell on Friday, Fatir Mahmood, said the theft of the hard drive containing security footage “clearly shows that someone planned to come in.”
"This wasn't an out-of-the-blue attempt ... there was definitely an intent behind it," he said.
Waterloo Regional Police said it launched an immediate investigation with four divisions, including its Break, Enter and Vehicle Theft Team, Hate Crime Unit, the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Unit, the Forensic Identification Unit and other support services within the investigative services branch.
The still pending result of that investigation hasn't stopped others from calling it a hate crime.
On Twitter and later in person while touring the damaged mosque, Cambridge Mayor Kathryn McGarry called it a “horrific and shameful” act of “hatred” that “has no place in our community.”
In a press release, police chief Bryan Larkin said, "places of worship are sacred, and this criminal act cannot and will not be tolerated in Waterloo Region.”
“My thoughts are with our Muslim community as they cope with this destructive and hateful crime,” he said.
In a statement on its website, the Waterloo Region District School Board called the vandalism an “act of hate” while reinforcing its commitment to “confronting and interrupting Islamophobia and all forms of racism, hate and discrimination.”
And speaking at Friday’s COVID-19 media briefing, Regional Chair Karen Redman said she “cannot imagine the impact and trauma experienced by the local Muslim community.”
Whatever the intent was, the break-in has had a clear and immediate impact on the Muslim community, said executive director of the Coalition of Muslim Women of KW Fauzia Mazhar, raising fears that wouldn’t have been present to the same degree if not for the broader context of recent anti-Muslim incidents locally and across Canada.
“We’re calling it an incident of hate because there is a pattern that we’re seeing here.”
She was referring to Monday’s attack in Hamilton against two Muslim women that led Hamilton Police to charge a 40-year-old Cambridge man with a hate crime for uttering threats, using racial slurs and assault with a weapon.
The attack came just over a month after the racially-motivated slaying of the Afzaal family in London, Ont. that sparked national outrage and a call for action to get tougher on the perpetrators of hate crime at every level of government.
Then there’s the Baitul Hadi Mosque in Edmonton, which happens to be in the same group as the Baitul Kareem Mosque, vandalized with a swastika in June.
“If we dilute the importance of these things then we’re not prepared for what can come our way,” Mazhar said.
“So there’s a balance we need to find. We want to make sure that as a community we don’t jump to conclusions and we wait for police and other law enforcement agencies to conclude their investigations before we can call it a hate crime as described by the Criminal Code of Canada.”
On the other hand, even if police conclude the vandalism wasn’t motivated by hatred toward the Muslim community, she said, its impact is the same.
"For the kid it was mischief, but this is not how it played out for the victim on the receiving end," Mazhar said.
Members of the Muslim community are used to seeing a disregard for the "hate element" in incidents like road rage or neighbour-to-neighbour conflicts, she said.
What it comes down to, more often than not, is the idea that it would be difficult to prove it in court.
The decision to not include the element of hate in the prosecution of these crimes is based on the feeling of the Crown that it would be a “waste of time,” Mazhar said.
But that leaves the victimized community with a sense of helplessness.
Mazhar and others across Canada are calling for changes to the Criminal Code of Canada that reflect the new realities of hate crime.
“In the last 20 to 30 years a lot of things have changed on the ground but the system is really lagging behind in reflecting those realities,” she said.
“In this void, when there is a gap between information coming from police services and the community, there is a lot of fear in the community.”
Feelings of marginalization, insecurity and alienation, along with a sense the system isn’t working, tend to creep in, Mazhar said.
It’s almost like the community is revictimized, she added.
Mazhar said she knows police are aware of the insecurities felt by the Muslim community and hopes more information is forthcoming soon.
In the wake of recent xenophobic incidents, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama`at Canada, the country’s largest national Muslim community, has heightened security measures at its mosques and prayer centres across the country.
A 35-year-old Cambridge man is charged with break-and-enter, property damage over $5,000 and possession of stolen property, as well as drug offences.
With files from KitchenerToday.com.
