OTTAWA—Canadian political leaders stood in the House of Commons Monday united first in words then silence to denounce violence and appeal for unity in the wake of Sunday’s Quebec City mosque massacre.

As the Canadian flag on the Peace Tower flew at half mast, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the “despicable act of terror last night in Quebec City.”

Speaking first in French then English, Trudeau said a “group of innocents” — six people dead and many others seriously wounded – were “targeted for practicing their faith.”

“Make no mistake, this was a terrorist attack,” said Trudeau. “It was an attack on our most intrinsic and cherished values as Canadians — values of openness, diversity, and freedom of religion.”

Terrorism is a loaded and specific criminal allegation that packs a legal, emotional and political wallop.

“This was an act of extreme violence directed against a particular group with the clear intent to intimidate and harm that group and to strike fear in their hearts,” said Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale. “In the definition in broad terms of terrorism, they were trying to inflict terror. And that fits the definition.”

Yet in the face of the American administration’s leap to suggest the Canadian attack justified its extraordinary weekend immigration freeze and airport detention orders that affected travellers from seven predominately Muslim countries, Goodale asserted “we don’t have sufficient hard facts yet to be able to draw conclusions about motivation and the exact nature of this violent act.”

Trudeau’s tough talk and calls for unity were echoed by four other opposition party leaders. They all spoke after Quebec provincial police announced only one of two persons arrested Sunday night was a suspect and the other merely designated a witness.

U.S. President Donald Trump called Trudeau mid-morning to express sympathy after the shooting made headline news internationally.

Trudeau’s office said only that “President Trump expressed his condolences to the prime minister and people of Canada following the tragic shooting at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec . . . and offered to provide any assistance as needed,” according to a PMO statement.

It made no mention of any other subjects the two leaders broached.

Trudeau’s government faces its most challenging days since the 2015 election in the wake of the stunning attack, sweeping airport detentions south of the border, and loud calls for Canada to step up and denounce Trump’s moves on immigration, security and trade.

The country that thought it was exempt from a U.S. presidential ban that stranded tens of thousands of Muslim travellers around the world was not exempt from violence that targeted Muslims. On Monday, Trudeau tried to bridge what appeared to be a growing divide.

Speaking directly to the more than 1 million Canadians of Muslim faith, Trudeau said, “We are with you, 36 million hearts are breaking with yours. You enrich our shared country in immeasurable ways. This is your home.”

Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose said the shooting has shocked the Quebec City region — “one of the safest in Canada” — and the entire country.

“This terrorist attack strikes at the very heart of one of the freedoms we cherish as Canadians, the right to practice one’s faith, to worship without fear; it is the freedom to worship as you choose with your fellow believers in your community in safety and without fear,” she said.

The latest from Quebec City

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said “the terrorist attack shook our country to its core” and vowed to “stand united and fight against hate, bigotry and Islamophobia and against those who peddle the politics of fear and division.”

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Bloc Québécois Leader Rhéal Fortin said “an unhealthy climate has taken hold in our society and across the western world,” calling the Quebec City attack the latest example of “a climate of distrust and intolerance. There’s not enough love,” he said.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May struggled to hold back tears as she echoed Fortin’s comments. “It feels as if it couldn’t possibly have happened, and yet it did.”

Across from Parliament Hill in Gatineau and in the U.S., police tightened security around mosques, and Goodale extended a deadline for religious and community centres to apply for extra federal money to enhance security.

Trudeau cancelled participation in a Métis-Crown “summit meeting” and another planned speech. Instead, he invited opposition party leaders to travel with him to Quebec City in a display of political solidarity, underscoring how his immediate agenda has been overtaken.

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