EDMONTON – Members of Edmonton Muslim community went door to door on Thanksgiving morning to distribute chocolate, in a powerful message of love and peace that counters anti-Islam flyers that were distributed earlier.

“We’re just handing out candy to spread some love,” said Saleha Anwer, as she, her husband Mustafa Farooq and eight others fanned out in the Richfield neighborhood, going door to door, where they were greeted warmly by residents, CBC News reported on Monday, October 10.

“Very nice of you,” said resident Henry Smolik, with a smile. “Thank you very much.”

On Thanksgiving morning, marked in Canada on October 10, Edmonton Muslims handed out chocolate in a southeast community near Markaz Ul Islam mosque, where Islamophobic flyers were recently distributed.

The initiative was suggested by members of Edmonton’s Muslim community to counter bitter hate with something sweet.

The special delivery is in response to xenophobic flyers discovered in a number of mailboxes in the Mill Woods’ neighborhood last week. The posters characterized Islam as violent, with the slogan #BANISLAM.

The incident alarmed people within the community and beyond, but they decided to turn the experience into something positive.

“We are trying to meet that hatred with love and peace as is the Muslim way,” Aurangzeb Qureshi, a spokesperson with the Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council, said.

“We’re distributing candies to the neighborhood and just being thankful that we live in such a diverse neighborhood in peace and harmony.”

Their initiative follows in the steps of similar positive campaigns that arose out of racist incidents in Edmonton.

In September, actor Jesse Lipscombe teamed up with Mayor Don Iveson to launch #MakeItAwkward. The campaign, which saw nationwide support from the prime minister on down, encourages people to confront racism.

It came about after a group of strangers shouted racial slurs at Lipscombe, which he recorded on video.