CAEF Letter to Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, City of Ottawa and Ottawa Carleton Police Services, re hateful message scheduled for Muslimfest 2025

CAEF
Aug 9
1 min read

Mr. Mark Sutcliffe

Mayor, City of Ottawa

Dear Mayor Sutcliffe;

We are bringing to your attention a concern about the upcoming event "Muslimfest" on August 9 at Cumberland Heritage Village.

On the website of the event organizer www.muslimfest.com, there is a web page describing a song that is to be performed at the event, titled "Shut it Down"

https://www.muslimfest.com/shut-it-down

We are reproducing the lyrics below in their entirety (as shown on their website), including the portions in Arabic that we translated into English using Google translate software.

Specifically, lyrics such as "We will water you with our blood to great Gaza" and "We will remain here, we will not be defeated, we will be victorious despite the treachery of the unjust occupier. From Gaza to Acre and Haifa to Al-Aqsa and Jaffa squares, the dawn of the next victory will rise" are incitements to violence and thus inappropriate for use in a City permitted activity.

We respectfully request that City management communicate to the organizers of this event that the broadcasting of messages that promote violence or hatred, will not be tolerated, regardless of the language in which they are expressed.

We are also copying the the Ottawa Carleton Police Service. We expect that the Ottawa Police will enforce Canadian laws against the incitement of violence or the wilful promotion of hate against identifiable groups, including Jews and/or Israelis.

Best regards,