Muslim women say urgent need for hate crime prevention in Waterloo Region

The Coalition of Muslim Women of Kitchener-Waterloois bringingback a hate crimes prevention program for what the group says is an urgent need.

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The group says it wants to encourage people to report any incidents that may be part of theanti-Muslim backlash seen in the wake of the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, France.

"We felt there wasa general uneasein the community, and there wasa bit of fear, and that people, especially Muslim women, werescared topick up their children from school or go to work. We were called to action because of that," said SarahShafiq,the coordinator ofthe hate preventioninitiative.

The return of the program comes after reports of physical or verbalassaults on Muslims in Toronto over the past few weeks.One woman waiting to pickup her children from school said she was beaten and robbed, while two others saidthey were accosted on the subway.

In addition,a mosque in Peterborough was set on fire.

Shafiq says there have been no such reports in Waterloo Region since the Paris attacks. But when the group was running the program as a pilot project from November 2012 to December 2013, it noted that anumber of Muslimwomen inthe Kitchener-Waterloo region hadrelated experiences ofdiscrimination.

"One such incident was shared with us by a Caucasian woman who had recently converted to Islam," the coalition's websitesaid. "She told us how a familiar cab driver, upon learning of her conversion commented, 'Just don't go blowing any of us up now.'The Muslim woman answered: 'Islam is a religion of peace.'The driver said:'Yeah right'and drove away."

At the time the pilot project was launched, the group said it wanted to increase awareness about hate crimes,their prevention and reporting among Muslim women living in Kitchener-Waterloo. Italso wanted to establish adatabase of hate incidents andprovide one-on-one support to women who are reporting such incidents.

Shafiqsays those calling the hate prevention hotline at226-988-5392,or contacting through emailatpeersupportservice_hci@hotmail.com,will be encouraged to talk to police if the incident is serious.