Prime Minister visits Bradford for annual Muslim convention

Thousands have converged in the community of Bradford this weekend, including the Prime Minister, for one of the country's largest annual Muslim conventions.

The event is taking place on 10 Sideroad, on a piece of property organizers call a tent-city, outdoor environment, allowing for plenty of space to house the large gathering that has previously taken place in Mississauga. It is a chapter of a worldwide series of events.

"The annual convention of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at Canada, which is happening here in Bradford, is just a series of these conventions that the founder of the community started, and we're still reaping the lessons from," says Safwan Chaudhry, a spokesperson.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended the event Saturday afternoon. He delivered a message stressing the importance of inclusivity in Canada.

"An attack on Muslim Canadians is an attack on all Canadians. An intolerance, hatred, undermines everything that we have built in this country and mostly everything that we have continued to build," Trudeau said to the crowd. "So we have to continually step up and do more as a country. Canada is a place of openness and respect, and we have to keep it that way."

This is the first time the event, which happens in cities worldwide, has occurred in Bradford. Chaudhry says he's not sure if it will return annually but envisions the property will house some of the country's largest religious gatherings in the coming years.

"The founder of this community…said that this convention is unlike any other worldly convention," says Chaudhry. "It is a convention of increasing your spirituality, increasing togetherness, creating a bond with one another and also creating a sense of community, and if you think of it especially coming out of a pandemic, those are all the things that have been lacking."

The convention concludes Sunday.