Alberta premier says more action coming to prosecute hate crimes

An Alberta Opposition MLA is calling for a provincial hate crimes unit and better anti-racist education in the wake of what police say was a hate-motivated attack on a Muslim family in Ontario.

Premier Jason Kenney, meanwhile, pledged his government would soon announce additional measures to prosecute hate crimes in the province.

Their comments came during a debate Tuesday about how the Alberta legislature and government should respond to Monday's attack.

Police in London, Ontario, say a man purposely drove into five family members of a Muslim family out for a walk, killing four people. A boy remains in hospital with serious injuries.

Edmonton-Ellerslie NDP MLA Rod Loyola, who is Muslim, pleaded with his colleagues not to use polarizing rhetoric that could be seen to legitimize hateful opinions.

"We need to take responsibility for this," he said. "We need to watch the words that we use in debate. Be careful with what we are saying, because although you may not have the intention of making it sound like it's hate, the people that do hate interpret it that way. And then they go out and they act upon that hate."

Loyola said the attack, and previous hate crimes targeting Muslims, has left some people afraid to leave their homes.

He said he feels "powerless" to stop the phenomenon, even from his position of privilege as an elected representative. Loyola said Muslim communities must push governments to take steps to prevent such attacks from happening again.

MLAs debated a motion Tuesday that would express legislators' condolences to the family and friends of the attack victims; convey shared grief for the hate crime; denounce hatred of Islam and all forms of hatred; call upon the province to strengthen law enforcement and anti-racist education; and to encourage a provincial anti-racism council to study and report back on hate crimes targeting religious and ethnic minorities in Alberta.

"I cannot even imagine the sense of insecurity, of vulnerability, of fear, that this terrorist attack must have created for all Canadian Muslims," Kenney told the legislature.

Culture, Multiculturalism and Status of Women Minister Leela Aheer responded to Loyola by saying the United Conservative Party and NDP MLAs are not divided in their response to hateful acts, and must not let hateful people sow such divisions.

However, the parties disagreed about how best to respond to Monday's tragedy. The Opposition wanted more concrete commitments to act.

NDP Justice critic Irfan Sabir unsuccessfully attempted to amend the government's motion to compel them to release a report it received six months ago from an anti-racism advisory committee. He said the government should also strike a bipartisan committee to ensure it acts upon the report.

"We need more than empty promises and lip service if we want to build an inclusive province where everyone feels safe," Sabir wrote on Twitter.

Aheer said it was "despicable" for the Opposition to use a family's death for partisan purposes.

MLAs unanimously approved the motion on Tuesday evening.

In the past year, police have reported at least six hate-fuelled, unprovoked attacks on Muslim women in Edmonton.