A rail company has apologized for not allowing a Muslim man to pray at Canada‘s Ottawa railway station.
The VIA rail company apologized and said it would work with the Canadian Muslim National Council to provide better anti-racism training, according to local newspaper the Ottawa Citizen.
On Monday, a video went viral on social media in which a person who was praying at a train station can be seen being scolded by a railway company official.
The official tells the Muslim man that his prayer is disturbing other passengers so he should go outside and pray.
After the video went viral, the rail company on Wednesday apologized to the person concerned and the entire Muslim community and assured an investigation into the incident.
The company said that “appropriate steps” will be taken once the investigation is complete.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) has expressed its concerns in a meeting with officials of the rail company on Thursday.
“Prayer is an important pillar of Islam and the way we are treated is very troubling,” said council spokeswoman Fatima Abdullah.
He said that the person concerned is very disturbed by the incident and could not sleep the whole night.