Canada

Boufeldja Benabdallah says for the past year and a half, he's witnessed a rise in vandalism and anti-Muslim rhetoric targeting mosques and cultural centres around Quebec — but he doesn't understand why.

Still, the spokesperson and co-founder of Quebec City’s Islamic Cultural Centre says his community is responding the best way they can — with vigilance.

For the first time in his memory, his mosque issued a public warning this past week reminding its community of security measures to increase safety in light of recent incidents.

In June, the windows of the Mauricie Islamic Cultural Centre were smashed in an act of vandalism following a surge of online threats and harassment targeting the Muslim community in Trois-Rivières, Que.

A month later, Montreal police launched an investigation into a hate crime outside the Verdun Islamic Centre after an artificial imitation of a severed, blood-covered human hand was left at the door.