The man who recorded a video of a racist, profanity-laden tirade and was allegedly assaulted by the suspect in a Halifax Costco store says he is shocked and angered by what happened
The video he recorded has since sparked conversations across the country about hate-motivated crime
“The incident actually deeply impacted me,” said Fayez Hamam. “Not physically, but mentally.”
The incident happened on Saturday at the Chain Lake Drive store in the Bayers Lake business district. Halifax Regional Police have since released photos of the suspect and are urging the public to help identify him
Provided/Halifax Regional Police
The force’s Hate Crime Unit is involved with the investigation, Halifax Regional Police have confirmed
Hamam says he began recording the video because he heard the suspect “screaming, yelling, and even physically engaging” with a family that included two women in hijabs. While the video is only a couple of minutes long, the man says the incident lasted about 15 minutes
The suspect can be heard telling people to “get out of our country” and threatening multiple times to kill “every one of you.”
At one point, the suspect seems to hit Hamam as he’s recording the video, and the phone falls
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“There is the brave woman who confronts (the suspect), and you can see it in the video,” Hamam said
“Once he’s done with the woman, he all of a sudden turn around and hit me so hard.”
Hamam credits Costco staff and management for taking the incident seriously, and says security guards “escorted” the suspect out of the store
Hamam, who is also Muslim, says he returned home feeling “angry” about what happened. He called police to file a report and an officer came to his house to take his statement
“I’ve been here in Halifax for more than 19 years or 20 years and this is the first time I saw something (like this),” he said
“I didn’t expect the individual to be so aggressive, so hostile. He was like … shouting, yelling, screaming with all kinds of badmouthing at the family.”
Hamam says he then shared the video with the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), which in turn posted it on social media — calling it a “racist and Islamophobic attack” against two Muslim women wearing hijabs
The NCCM says they’re calling on public officials to create a national strategy to combat Islamophobia, saying these types of incidents aren’t rare
“Especially in the past couple of months or the past few weeks, where we’ve been getting one or two calls about issues like this or incidents similar to this pretty much every day,” said NCCM spokesperson Steven Zhou
Community leaders at Halifax’s Ummah Masjid Mosque are condemning the incident, calling it hurtful
“It’s painful to see (this) happen in daylight and a shopping mall that a citizen of this land, being a normal human being going shopping with their family, being called out in a very horrible way. It’s unacceptable,” said Ali Duale, Ummah Masjid’s operations manager
“This nation was built by immigrants. We’re all here. Whatever the reason that we came here, let’s get along with each other.”
Others are encouraging further dialogue and education about Islam as a way of combating hateful rhetoric
“The problem is with misinformation and built-up hate, it comes out. The result of it, unfortunately, (is) what we seen at Costco in Halifax,” said Imam Mahmoud Omar
“Ask anything (about Islam), verify this information before you act up upon it.”
Hate crime data
According to the latest numbers from Statistics Canada, released on March 30 of this year, police-reported hate crime in Canada in 2024 was “relatively stable” compared to the year before
Looking at the motivation behind the crimes, incidents targeting race or ethnicity rose by eight per cent, however
The data <a href="https://todaytrendnews7.com/10-best-tv-shows-about-american-history-ranked/” title=”10 Best TV Shows About American History, Ranked”>shows the increase was driven by a 16 per cent spike in incidents against Arab and West Asian populations, a 15 per cent increase against South Asian populations and a six per cent increase targeting Black populations
The data also showed police-reported hate crimes targeting religion were relatively stable following two sharp increases in the previous three years
In 2024, Canada’s rate of police-reported hate crimes was 11.9 per 100,000 population. Nova Scotia’s rate was 15.2 per 100,000 — second only to Ontario, which recorded a rate of 16 per 100,000
The RCMP note underreporting of hate crimes and incidents is a “common occurrence” in the country for a variety of reasons, including fear of retaliation or mistrust of police
Halifax Regional Police spokesperson Const. Martin Cromwell addressed this with reporters on Tuesday, saying reporting helps the force’s Hate Crime Unit better understand the magnitude of the issue
“I would just like to remind or again express to the public that if they do experience a hate-related incident that they do report it so we can have it documented,” said Cromwell
“It’s always important to have that incident documented and on record. Even if they don’t believe that charges may follow, it’s still very important.”
