4 charged in suspected racially motivated assault in western P.E.I.
CBC
RCMP in western P.E.I. have charged four men in connection with an alleged assault in Abram-Village early in September.
Police were called to the Évangéline Recreation Centre at about 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 3, when an event connected to the P.E.I. Acadian Festival was wrapping up. Two men were injured and were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Some people who had volunteered at the festival also reported their vehicles had been vandalized in the parking lot.
Local groups said the victims were immigrants from Algeria who had settled in the area, and called the attack racially motivated.
One of the people who was injured worked forCoopérative d'intégration francophone. The other was an employee at the French Daycare Association of P.E.I., which relies heavily on newcomers to fill positions within its system.
The P.E.I. advocacy group BIPOC USHR said the attack amounted to a case of Islamophobia.
Within days, police had made four arrests, but this is the first news of charges against the men.
They are:
"The P.E.I. RCMP recognize that incidents like this have a profound effect beyond the individuals directly involved," RCMP Const. Gavin Moore said in a news release issued Friday morning.
"We continue to work with the BIPOC community, and all Islanders, towards the common goal of building safer communities."
RCMP are still looking for witnesses to the incident.