After sparking controversy over his use of the word “jihad” on two separate occasions this week, Councillor Doug Ford is facing more backlash, this time from the Muslim community.

“The kind of inflammatory and highly offensive language used by Councillor Doug Ford is reprehensible and only serves to further demonize Canadian Muslims,” Ihsaan Gardee, executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, said in a news release Friday.

On Wednesday, Ford told CityNews reporter Cynthia Mulligan that she was engaging in a “jihadist attack.” Mulligan had just interviewed Ford and was reporting on the return of his brother, Mayor Rob Ford, to his re-election campaign after a stay in rehab, and the public’s response to his first day campaigning.

In an unrelated event in May, Ford had said an Etobicoke home for teens with autism “ruined the community” in Ward 2, which he represents. He also suggested that its young residents were criminals, prompting a complaint to the city’s integrity commissioner from the father of an autistic son.

After learning of the integrity complaint, Doug Ford told the Toronto Sun, “He can go to hell, I don’t even care” and “This is not normal in democracy … It is a full-out jihad against us right now.”

Ford apologized to Mulligan and Don Peat, the Toronto Sun reporter he spoke to, in a Friday interview with Mulligan. “I’ll apologize to you, absolutely, 100 per cent,” Ford said. “And Don. But maybe I’ll choose a different word next time.”

Ford admitted the term was “not as appropriate as I should have said.”

Gardee said Ford’s choice of words sent the wrong message to his constituents. “No elected or public official should misuse terms like ‘jihad’ that are already widely misunderstood and which further promote stereotypes about Canadian Muslims being a ‘fifth column’ in society that cannot be trusted,” he said in the statement.

Doug Ford is currently serving as the mayor’s campaign manager. The embattled Ford brothers are trying to overcome months of controversy over their behaviour and Rob Ford’s two-month stint in rehab for substance abuse.

The latest poll puts Ford 10 points behind progressive Olivia Chow, and one point behind rival conservative John Tory.

Tory condemned Doug’s words as well. “Using a loaded and inflammatory term like ‘jihad’ to describe legitimate criticism is pathetic and shows that the Fords just don’t get it,” he said Friday.

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