CITYnews halifax: N.B. police investigate possible hate crime over violent altercation caught on video

CITYnews halifax / By The Canadian Press

MONCTON — The RCMP says it’s investigating a possible hate crime in southeastern New Brunswick, after a video appearing to show a woman assaulting a Muslim woman was posted online.

The video, which does not have audio, shows one woman repeatedly punching another in a Moncton, N.B., parking lot as a man shouts at the victim. Steven Zhou, spokesperson for the National Council of Canadian Muslims — which has been in contact with the family and posted the video to its social media — said the attacker was shouting for the Muslim woman to “go back to her country.”

He also noted that the altercation happened in front of her seven-year-old son.

“The whole family is shaken,” Zhou said in an interview Friday, noting the victim suffered a concussion, a bloody nose, multiple cuts and swelling to her face.

The RCMP said in a news release Thursday that officers were called to an altercation involving multiple people in a parking lot on Saturday night and are working to determine if hate was a factor. Police said they’re aware of the video and believe they’ve identified the people involved, but said in an email Friday morning that there was no update on the investigation or possible arrests.

Zhou said the video was filmed by a bystander who shared it with police and the victim’s family. The family then shared it with the council. He said the council has talked with the seven-year-old’s father who says his son’s behaviour has changed since the alleged assault.

“He has tremendous fears about things like the people who attacked his mom tracing them somehow to their home and hurting them there,” said Zhou. “He doesn’t feel safe, often inside his own home. And it just has the sense that this is someone, a young child, that’s just being psychologically scarred for a long time.”

Zhou said the number of reports of similar anti-Muslim incidents to the national council has increased dramatically since the Israel-Hamas war began in the fall of 2023, and there’s been another noticeable spike over the last six-to-eight weeks. He said there’s usually at least one incident reported a day such as an assault, vandalism or harassment.

Statistics Canada said there were 4,708 hate crimes reported to police in 2025, up 40 per cent from 2021. Race or ethnicity was a motivation in about half the 2025 incidents with religion a factor in a further 24 per cent.

This week, Montreal police were called after a package containing an artificial imitation of a “severed, blood-covered human hand” was found outside an Islamic centre. Earlier this month, Halifax police charged a man with incitement of hatred, assault and uttering threats after a racist tirade in a Costco store was captured on video. In June, the BC Muslim Association said a imam of a mosque in Victoria was attacked in a vehicle outside his home.

The council is calling for the federal government to create a national strategy on Islamophobia. Zhou says implementing it will take community leaders, municipal councillors and provincial representatives as well.

Premier Susan Holt said in a social media post Thursday that she’s deeply disturbed by the parking lot incident and there’s no place for Islamophobia in New Brunswick.

“No one should ever be targeted because of their faith, their race, or where they are from. Every person deserves to feel safe in New Brunswick, and every child deserves to grow up free from fear and hatred,” Holt said in the statement.

Local MP Ginette Petitpas Taylor said in a statement that she is outraged and plans to reach out to faith and community leaders.

“Hate motivated crimes are on the rise in Canada and we must not be silent,” she said.

“Our silence emboldens those who seek to divide us.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2026.

— By Devin Stevens in Halifax

The Canadian Press