Montreal has seen a sudden increase in the reporting of hate crimes since a terrorist opened fire at a mosque in Quebec City.
Police chief Philippe Pichet said the dedicated hate crime unit has been flooded with calls since Sunday night.
"We had 14 calls related to hate crimes or hate incidents. That's a lot," said Pichet.
In May of last year Montreal police created a specific hate crime incident unit, and from its creation until the end of the year 55 hate crimes investigated by police.
"I'm very concerned," said Pichet of the sudden increase.
There were 137 hate-crime related calls in 2016, and 116 in 2015.
“It’s a very big concern to the Muslim community, because we know that all over the world there are people with good intentions and bad intentions,” said Foudil Selmoune, Imam of the Islamic Community Centre.
Pichet said not every reported incident will turn out to be a hate crime, but all will be investigated, and he hopes police intervention will prevent possible escalation.
"Maybe some incidents, of these 55, will prevent some bad situations. It's hard to measure," said Pichet.
He added that since Sunday, police had already met two people accused of instigating hate speech and convinced them to deliver apologies.
On Monday Pichet met with the leaders of Muslim and Jewish groups in Montreal to see how they were doing and to answer their concerns.
He said Montreal police will continue to work with minority religious groups in order to maintain good ties and let them know they can trust officers.
"We want people to feel free to call to denounce specific situations," said Pichet.
Pichet said since the attack on the mosque that left six dead and nearly 20 injured, security has been increased at mosques around the city.
"I've been working for five years in the anti-terrorism unit, and when the incident happened Sunday in the hours, in the minutes afterward, we took specific measures," said Pichet.
"We put some more police officers around entrance places, and we're also working with the communities. All communities, if they feel they need us to ensure their security we're taking specific measures for all our neighbourhood stations."
Some politicians and some media have given the wrong impression of all Muslims, said Selmoune.
“They try to give the image that Muslim equals terrorism, or Islam is terrorism which isn’t a fact - because we as Canadians, as Quebecers, we live here and we live in peace,” he said.
Speaking in Quebec City, Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux said police forces across the province have been asked to increase security at all places of worship.
"We take it very seriously when people make threats against the Muslim community," said Coiteux.
"The vandalism, the threats, especially those made recently, all those acts are being investigated."
