Cold Lake, Alberta, National Post   2014/10/24

People in a small northeastern Alberta city came together Friday to help clean up a mosque that had its windows broken and “Go home” painted across the front wall.

Mahmoud Elkadri, a mosque board member, said he noticed the vandalism when he went to open the doors for prayers early Friday morning.

He said his family has lived in Cold Lake since 1996 and has always felt welcome.

“You see a message ’Go home’ — I just want to let everybody know, this is our home,” Elkadri said.

“My kids saw it and they started crying and I said: ’Why are you crying?’ They said: ’We were born here and raised here and this is our home.”’

Cold Lake is home to a large military base where six Canadian CF-18 fighter jets departed Tuesday to join the international mission combating Islamic extremists in Iraq.

By Friday afternoon residents of the city, population 14,000, had posted colorful signs on the front of the mosque saying “You are Home!” and “We stand united as Canadians.”