‘Looking over their shoulders’: Advocates call for anti-Islamophobia supports as man charged in St. Albert assault

Edmonton's Muslim community says a recent attack was hate-motivated. CTV News Edmonton's Nahreman Issa has the story.

The family and friends of a Muslim man are “traumatized” after he was physically attacked in St. Albert last week.

Ryan Richard Lacasse, a 40-year-old St. Albert resident, was charged Thursday with aggravated assault, uttering threats and two Traffic Safety Act offences.

He’s accused of assaulting Ali Wahad Noor on a road outside a mosque in St. Albert on May 1.

Noor, 56, was leaving the Muslim Association of St. Albert with his wife around 2:30 p.m. when someone drove up to them and cut off their car, says spokesperson Ahmed Abdul Kadir.

“(He) gets out of the car, cursing them, calling them names, calling them apes, the n-word, moron, and then goes and insults (Noor’s) religion,” Kadir told CTV News Edmonton. “F–king Muslims, anything like that. And then he said, ‘I’m going to kill you.’”

Kadir believes Noor was punched unconscious. Noor was taken to hospital and treated for lacerations and a chipped tooth. He’s told media he would like privacy to recover and process.

Kadir credits witnesses in traffic who came to Noor’s aid and called 911. Alberta RCMP say they received multiple calls for help from good Samaritans.

“The whole community stood together,” Kadir said.

Noor’s wife was uninjured, but Kadir says her and the couple’s four adult children are “traumatized.”

“They are looking over their shoulders, they worry a lot about what took place. He himself is going through a lot,” Kadir said.

Noor is a rideshare driver who Kadir says cannot go back to work yet and is ineligible for benefits while unemployed.

“He’s having continuous headaches. He cannot sleep at night. He gets up more often when he’s with somebody or even driving. He said … ‘I don’t trust anything that’s going on around me.’”

Kadir says he believes the couple was targeted for being visibly Muslim and Black. Noor’s wife wears a hijab.

On Wednesday, St. Albert RCMP announced they had arrested a man in connection with the attack but were still considering racial slurs uttered before laying specific charges.

Kadir told CTV News Edmonton he’s disappointed the charges don’t reflect what he believes was a hate-motivated attack.

“Shame on you. Shame on you,” was his message to whoever attacked Noor. “We are all Canadian. We’re all human people. Because of you, this family is suffering.”

RCMP say a judge must determine whether a case is hate-motivated based on evidence gathered during the investigation. If that’s the case, the court ruling could include a longer sentence.

‘Far too commonplace’

The western advocacy officer of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) says he’s seeing these types of stories on a loop in headlines through the years.

“These types of incidents, as frustrating and as disappointing as they are, are far too commonplace,” said Yahya Jama.

The NCCM is lobbying all levels of government to work on a victim support fund for those who experience hate violence, Jama added.

In recent years, Edmonton police’s hate crimes unit has investigated a number of threats involving racial slurs against Muslim and Palestinian communities in the city.

Jama says racist attacks against all groups are far too common. With Islamophobia specifically, he contributes assaults to anti-immigrant rhetoric amid Alberta separatist debates.

The NCCM has been in contact with Noor as well as the RCMP as they work to support his family through his injuries.

“We’re working with him to ensure that he has the requisite supports around safety, but also ensuring that his story is known and understood, and that the community knows and that all levels of government know and strongly condemn these types of attacks,” he said.

Community reaction

Kadir says the family has received a largely positive outpouring of support since the attack, like lawyers who have offered their services to Noor and people among St. Albert communities, including both Muslim and Jewish groups.

“We are against any kind of hate, whether it’s a church, mosque or synagogue. But collectively, the good people with good conscience and good heart are standing side by side and helping each other and saying no,” Kadir said.

St. Albert Mayor Scott Olivieri called the incident “extremely disheartening.”

“We absolutely don’t welcome violence of any nature like that,” he told CTV News Edmonton. “And I’m hopeful and confident that the judicial system will take everything into account and apply all necessary repercussions to the individual that’s involved in this.”

A press conference outside the St. Albert mosque on Carleton Drive will see appearances from Noor, the NCCM and Olivieri on Friday at 4 p.m.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nahreman Issa