A culture-enriching “Canadian” named Hamza Chaoui jumped the gun a little bit and announced the opening of his new mosque in Montreal before the permit for it had actually been approved by borough authorities. Yesterday Montreal city officials — perhaps influenced by last month’s deadly jihad incidents in Paris — announced that the permit for the mosque has been denied.

As it happens, Mr. Chaoui used to preach at the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu mosque, the same mosque attended by Ahmad Rouleau, a.k.a. Martin Couture-Rouleau, who ran over and killed warrant officer Patrice Vincent last October. He was also the leader of a Muslim association at Laval University, one of whose members, Chiheb Esseghaier, has been charged in a plot to derail a Via Rail train.

But those are just individual lone wolves, and we should not judge an entire religion based on their aberrant deeds. Especially when those deeds have nothing to do with Islam.

The video below shows Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre speaking at a press conference yesterday about Mr. Chaoui and his would-be mosque. Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Below are excerpts from an article on the same topic from The National Post:

Anti-Democracy Imam Gets Cold Reception From Politicians Over Montreal Community Centre Plan MONTREAL — A controversial imam who preaches that democracy and Islam are incompatible should think twice before trying to set up an Islamic youth centre in Montreal, politicians warn. “I am against all forms of radicalism,” Mayor Denis Coderre said in response to news reports that Hamza Chaoui wants to open the Ashabeb community centre in Montreal’s Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough next month. Mr. Coderre, who met with spiritual leaders Wednesday in hopes of fostering dialogue in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris, said he will consult with borough mayor Réal Ménard about the plan. But Montreal’s mayor said he rejects Mr. Chaoui’s rigid views on democracy and homosexuality, and his suggestion that democracy and Islam are antithetical. “That is not the message of the Qur’an.”…

Video transcript: