OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a clarion call for Canadian politicians to combat, not court, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim anger in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand.

White supremacists, neo-Nazis, far-right extremists — they’re in Canada, too, and they are active. And in a speech to the House of Commons Monday, Trudeau called out the hypocrisy of politicians who send “thoughts and prayers” when Jews and Muslims are murdered in their place of worship, but do nothing to combat the hatred underlying those attacks.

Trudeau was addressing the House of Commons in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack in Christchurch last week. A 28-year-old Australian man killed at least 50 people and injured many more when he opened fire in two mosques.

A manifesto, believed to be authored by the gunman, repeatedly referenced far-right conspiracy theories that flourish in some of the Internet’s darkest corners.

“Toxic rhetoric has broken into the mainstream,” Trudeau said.

“It is anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, anti-Black, anti-Indigenous, misogynistic, homophobic.”

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“As politicians we stand around and offer our condolences, and we say nice things in the aftermath. We say that we will do better. We will say that never again will such hatred be allowed to fester unchallenged. Then, when the flames die down and the smoke clears, we look the other way. We revert back to politicking, figuring out how we can tap into that powerful rage to harness a few more votes,” said Trudeau, at times visibly angry.

“With a wink and a nudge, we legitimize this evil.”

Trudeau did not name names. But there are plenty of examples among Western nations — from U.S. President Donald Trump saying there are “good people” on both sides of a white supremacist rally and counterprotest, to anti-immigrant rhetoric in the lead-up to the Brexit referendum, to an openly anti-refugee government in Italy.

In Canada, none of the three major parties — Conservatives, Liberals and New Democrats — are advocating for building walls or sharply reducing the number of immigrants.

But there has been a heated debate between the governing Liberals and opposition Conservatives over immigration issues, especially over the issue of irregular migration at the Canada-U.S. border and refugee claimants. Immigration is expected to be one of the major issues in the upcoming federal election.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, who was criticized last week when his initial statement on Christchurch neglected to mention Muslims or the mosques that were targeted, echoed Trudeau’s call to combat racism.

“Evil is real, and it takes many forms. Bigotry, hatred, racism and violence are among them,” Scheer said.

“These forces must be met with both our finest virtue and our fiercest resolve. Hatred must be met with truth, cowardice with courage, bigotry with tolerance, violence with justice.”

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“I say to my colleagues in all parties, we certainly have our differences on important policy matters that deserve rigorous and spirited debate,” Scheer added. “But on this, the very passion and humanity of our Canadian society, there can be no debate.”

Just before the speeches, the House of Commons unanimously approved a motion condemning the Christchurch attack, expressed solidarity with the people of New Zealand and the Muslim communities in Canada, and affirmed the “need to confront hatred, Islamophobia and white supremacy in all their forms.”

Maxime Bernier, the leader of the upstart People’s Party of Canada who has made criticism of immigration and “extreme multiculturalism” his main focus, told the Star Monday night that he was present for the motion, which passed without debate.

The motion was put forward by Joël Lightbound, the Liberal MP whose Quebec City riding includes the Centre Islamique Culturel de Quebec where Alexandre Bissonnette killed six Muslim men at evening prayers in 2016.

Bissonnette was one of the scrawled names across a rifle magazine purported to be used by the Christchurch shooter, identified as 28-year old Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant. He was also one of the most recent, and most deadly, manifestations of anti-immigrant violence that statistics suggest have been on the rise in recent years.

Earlier this week, the Liberal government committed funding to research far-right extremism in Canada. Barbara Perry, the researcher who will conduct the study, told the Star she believes as many as 300 far-right extremist, white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups are currently active in Canada, up from roughly 100 in 2015.

New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh called on politicians to be careful with their language to make sure their words and policies aren’t taken as tacit approval of those groups’ hate-fuelled ideas and actions.

“The language of calling someone ‘illegal’ dehumanizes the worth and value of another human being. When we use words like ‘barbaric’ to describe another human being, again the purpose is to dehumanize and then once we dehumanize it leads to fear and hatred,” Singh said.

“We know that words can fuel white supremacy. Words can fuel hatred. We have to call out those words and call out those policies.”

In issuing a call to action in the wake of the Christchurch attack, Trudeau appears to have anticipated criticism that he was politicizing the tragedy. He had an answer ready.

“After tragedies like these, politicians often say that it is not a time to talk politics … I think that is a farce,” Trudeau said.

“I think this is exactly the time to talk politics, because the best way to support people is to acknowledge that there is a problem and take concrete steps to fix it.”

With a file from Susan Delacourt

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