Ottawa mosque seeks hate crime security funds following shooting

Ottawa’s oldest mosque will apply for funding to boost security after the Quebec City shooting that killed six, but its vice-president said cash-strapped organizations like his might struggle to cover their half of the cost of projects under a federal program.

On Monday, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale extended the deadline to March 31 from Jan. 31 to apply for funding under the Security Infrastructure Program aimed at “communities at risk of hate-motivated crimes.”

Ahmed Ibrahim, who runs dayto-day operations at the Ottawa Muslim Association’s Northwestern Avenue mosque, is now preparing an application. He fielded numerous questions about security from worshippers at the mosque Monday amid “the shock, the anger, the fear” and the feeling that “this is not Canada.”

However, Ibrahim said the program, which the Northwestern Avenue mosque has benefited from before, has its drawbacks for organizations that rely on donations and fundraising.

The mosque was the target of racist graffiti and a suspicious-package scare in 2016.

“The SIP program is good and it’s bad. The good part about it is that the government will help you out. The not-that-good part about it is they’ll only give you 50 per cent of the cost,” Ibrahim said. “The mosque or a church or a synagogue, they have to come up with the other 50 per cent.

“To raise our 50 per cent, that might be a challenge.”

Needed improvements include adding a barrier between the mosque and an adjacent property, increasing the number of surveillance cameras, and perhaps upgrading the security system. But changes to the building — upgrading doors, for example — aren’t covered.

The government could help by boosting the proportion of security improvements it pays for and including building-related costs, Ibrahim said.

The program now covers up to half the cost of items such as alarm systems, barriers, lighting, cameras and sealants to protect buildings from graffiti, to a maximum of $100,000.

The cash is available to non-forprofit organizations, including places of worship, provincially recognized schools, and community centres, which have to show they have cash or in-kind contributions from private sources totalling at least half the project cost.

“We need to be very careful about what we are asking for so we don’t overload ourselves,” Ibrahim said, pointing out the association’s responsibility to help people in need. It sponsors seven Syrian families, while also working with counterparts across the city offering language and employment programs for an estimated 2,000 Syrian refugees, he said.

A spokesman for Public Safety Canada said 202 organizations across Canada have been given a total of $4.1 million under the Security Infrastructure Program so far.

In Ottawa, allocations have ranged from less than $700 for the Ottawa Theravada Buddhist Vihara to $100,000 to each of the Assunnah Muslims Association on Hunt Club Road and Jamiatul Muslemeen of Ottawa-Carleton on Old Richmond Road.

Past allocations have also gone to Muslim organizations in Nepean, Orléans and Gatineau and to the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.

The mosque or a church or a synagogue, they have to come up with the other 50 per cent. To raise our 50 per cent, that might be a challenge.