Canadian police say an alleged attack on a young girl wearing a hijab did not happen.

News reports last Friday said the 11-year-old was approached by a man as she walked to school and he used a pair of scissors to cut the girl's headdress in the city of Toronto.

Police were investigating the apparent assault as a hate crime. However, investigators announced on Monday that reports of the incident were false.

"We put together a lot of evidence, we considered the evidence and came to the conclusion that what was described did not happen," Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash told Reuters news agency.

More information on what exactly occurred wasn't immediately available.

"We are very thankful that this assault did not, in fact, happen," the Globe and Mail newspaper quoted a Toronto District School Board statement as saying. "We won't be commenting further."

The alleged assault drew condemnation from a variety of political circles, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who said this is "not what Canada is".