GTA News: Hamilton City Staff Refuse Permission for a New Islamic School. Muslims View it as Another Example of Anti-Muslim Hate

Barely 10 months ago (September 17, 2025), a Muslim charity based in Hamilton, called the Toledo Foundation, took a Stoney Creek landowner to court for going back on a signed agreement that permitted the establishment of an Islamic school on his property. The Great Life Church of Hamilton partly occupied the space, while a large portion remained vacant. According to the charity, the landowner, identified only by his company number: 1000568865 ONTARIO INC., initially agreed to the lease terms and signed the contract.

However, he suddenly retracted his agreement without providing plausible reasons. The Toledo Foundation cited Islamophobia and hostility towards their community as the reasons for the cancellation, pointing to the Great Life Church and its chief pastor, Dr. Peter Marshall, as the main instigators of the conflict.

They presented an audio recording of Dr. Marshall addressing his congregation about the “big battle” the church was facing, urging them to resist what he referred to as a “false religion” (Islam) and emphasizing the need for a Christian school adjacent to the church, stating, “We don’t want ‘that‘ type of religion joining us in the building.” The case is currently sub judice.

10 Months Later, Nothing Has Changed.

On July 25, 2026: Never defeated by hate and the walls that haters put up, the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) requested the city, in March 2026, to lease an old building that once housed the Lloyd George Public School at 360 Beach Road for the purpose of establishing a 27-classroom private Islamic school.

However, this time around, Hamilton city planners stepped in and recommended against changing the zoning to allow for the construction of the new Islamic school. Their justification was that the property is located in Hamilton’s industrial area and is therefore not ideal for a school.

In a report from the July 28 planning committee meeting, city staff assessed the MAC’s proposal for the circa-1918, two-story brick building between Woodleigh and Agincourt avenues as “not appropriate for the site (for a potential Islamic school).”

Additionally, city planners raised concerns about how close the proposed school site is to the steelmaker ArcelorMittal Dofasco and other smaller industrial facilities. Issues such as air quality, noise from nearby roads and railways, and soil contamination were cited, with the report claiming these factors “have not been appropriately mitigated.”

Furthermore, the report highlighted concerns about transportation safety, noting that the school would generate approximately 338 two-way trips during morning drop-offs. This volume of expected traffic would exceed the site’s capacity and lead to “vehicle queuing” and circulation issues affecting nearby roadways like Beach Road.

In response, MAC submitted a list of pressing reasons to justify the need for the school. They emphasized the “urgent need” for educational facilities and youth programming in the community to alleviate pressure on existing Islamic schools, which currently have long waitlists.

MAC also pointed to the growing Muslim population in the city, which had increased from 3.7% in 2011 to 6.8% in 2021, according to a Statistics Canada report, as one of the key reasons for establishing this new school.

The matter is still unresolved. GTA Muslims Today is following this news item and will provide updates on it as they occur, Insha’Allah.

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