Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is considering a special fund to help religious minorities protect their places of worship, schools and the community centers from terrorist attacks.
"This government has zero tolerance for any hate crimes or actions targeted against religious or ethnic groups," said Melisa Leclerc, a spokeswoman of the Canadian Public Security Minister Stockwell Day.
"We continue to meet and work with a number of religious and ethnic groups, governments and law enforcement agencies to keep all Canadian communities safe."
The Liberal Party asked the Harper government last week to help 'offset the costs of security for at-risk, targeted communities.'
This suggestion from the Liberal Party was in fact in response to the Canadian Jewish Congress statement in support of government aid for stepped-up security.
Their chief executive officer, Bernie Farber, reportedly said 'many communities that would define themselves at risk, could include the Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities.'
"It is a great sigh of relief to know about the Canadian government's offer to provide funding for the security and safety of places of worship of minorities at last," said Dr Mani Subramaniam, religious secretary of the Hindu Samaj of Hamilton (Ontario).
The Hindu temple in Hamilton was the only Hindu place of worship in Canada that was firebombed on September 15, four days after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
"The police investigation concluded that it was an act of arson. However, the culprits are yet to be apprehended," Subramaniam told this reporter.
"The safety of the priests and the security of the temple are matters of utmost importance for every minority community to safeguard against hate crime," he went on to explain.
"We were the victims of the hate crime. It has taken five years of hard work to rebuild the temple from ashes."
The rebuilding of the Hindu temple, Subramaniam said, 'posed enormous financial strain on the Hindu community'.
The then Liberal Government in Ottawa gave them $120,000 and the temple board also received $10,000 from the City of Hamilton.
"Our total expenditure in rebuilding the temple is $1.7-million, out of which $250,000 is a line of credit from ICICI Bank and $100,000 is private interest free loan from the community."
Interestingly, the City of Hamilton 'recognized the Hindu Samaj venue as a historic site in fight against hate crime'.
This year Ontario Minister Dr Marie Bountrogianni and Hamilton Mayor, Larry DiIanni, came to the temple on September 24, and they unveiled a plaque, 'To serve Hamilton Community as a reminder about the importance of hate crime prevention."
The Hamilton police is also soon organising in the Hindu temple a hate crime workshop.
"The temple is the only victim -- amongst religious institutions -- following 9/11. So, we look to the federal government help with funds for implementing recommendations, contained in a 36-page report on Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, that was submitted to us," said Subramaniam.
It would cost the temple $35,000 to implement all the recommendations contained in this report, he said.
"If all these security measures were in place in the first place, we could have brought to justice the culprits, people who are still at large."
Therefore, to Subramaniam and the Hindu temple board, Canadian government's decision to help pay for the securities of places of worships, is a welcome sign.
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