REGINA, Sask. — The Regina Police Service (RPS) has increased patrols around local Muslim gathering places and mosques as it launches a formal investigation into a series of threats directed at the city’s Islamic community. The backlash began shortly after a downtown mosque publicly broadcast the Islamic call to prayer, known as the Adhan, for the first time earlier this month.
On June 19, the Regina City Jamia Masjid mosque broadcast the live call to prayer via a rooftop speaker, a practice organizers intend to continue for two to three minutes every Friday before the weekly Jumu’ah congregational prayers. M Anisur Rahaman, director of the Al-Baaqi Foundation which runs the mosque, noted that the broadcast serves the same purpose as traditional Christian church bells. However, following the event, the group was targeted with aggressive threats via emails, phone calls, and social media, sparking deep safety concerns within the community.
Regina Police Chief Lorilee Davies confirmed that any communications breaching criminal thresholds are being actively investigated to determine if hate crimes are involved. The threats will be scrutinized under Canada’s recently strengthened hate crimes legislation, the Combatting Hate Act, which received royal assent last week and officially takes effect on July 18. The updated federal laws make it a distinct criminal offense to intimidate or obstruct individuals from accessing places of worship, schools, and community centers.
The mosque had obtained a valid amplification permit from the police department for the broadcast—one of more than 100 such noise permits issued to various community and cultural groups in Regina each year. While Rahaman believes the backlash stems from a misunderstanding of the 1,400-year-old tradition, he emphasized that the mosque has also received positive community feedback. He added that they are fully committed to following local regulations and are willing to lower the volume if the loudspeaker causes a disturbance to downtown residents.
