Citizenship ceremony at Brossard mosque target of social media backlash

It was supposed to be a celebration of inclusiveness and new beginnings. But a Canada Day party and citizenship ceremony at aBrossardIslamic community centre on Friday faced some backlash on social media.

OnFacebook, one person called the organizers traitors to Canada. Others made rude remarks about the Islamic faith.

The choice of the venue was to gather different members of the community, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, said Liberal MP Alexandra Mendes.

Mendestook part in the ceremony.Shealso received some criticism after inviting her constituents to the cultural centre, which includes amosque.

"There was some controversy around the choice of venue because people stopped at the word mosque, and not the word cultural centre," Mendes said.

"But I also received lots of support from people who said it was an excellent idea.

"We are Canadians and we celebrate being Canadians," she said.

Foudil Selmoune, the mosque's imam, said he wanted to improve the image of Muslims with the ceremony.

"It's very important to counter the negative ideas people have, thatwe're negative people, that we're isolated," he said.

Mendes said next year's ceremony won't be held at the Islamic centre, but deniedit has anything to do with the backlash.