Excerpt:
A Laval reception hall that abruptly cancelled an event organized by a Muslim community group this past weekend says its decision was a matter of security, and “had nothing to do with the nature of the event.”
Terry Christopoulos, sales director at the Chateau Royal, said he received a call on Saturday asking if the reception hall could accommodate an event at the last minute. He checked and saw that there was space available, he said.
Christopoulos said he was bombarded with calls and messages later that day, alerting him that backlash to the event was spreading rapidly among far-right groups on social media.
The Centre Communautaire Musulman de Montreal (CCMM) had sought to rent the space to hold an annual event celebrating young girls’ decisions to wear the hijab.