An eleven-year-old Muslim girl in a Toronto suburb claimed she was walking to school when she was attacked by a man, who came up from behind, and tried to cut her hijab off with a pair of scissors — twice. The national media jumped on the story, without any skepticism. Politicians, Muslim lobbyists, everyone said it was proof of rampant, violent Islamophobia.

Except now police say it was a hoax. The whole thing was made up.

The media should have known better — but they just loved the narrative too much: evil, racist Canadians, picking on a poor Muslim girl. They couldn’t resist running with that smear.

The police first announced the reported crime at 8:52 a.m. There are a lot of crimes in the big city of Toronto. But the media seemed to just know this one was newsworthy; the CBC really seemed to know — they had someone write up a story just 45 minutes later.

That’s pretty amazing. How was it physically possible for the CBC to learn about this crime; decide it was important enough to cover; dispatch a reporter, check the facts, write it and publish it — in 45 minutes?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was upset too. And half of the Liberal cabinet, who miraculously all knew about this story almost as quickly as the CBC did!

All the official people took the opportunity to condemn Canadians as racist. But then came the inevitable: a press release from the police: “After a detailed investigation, police have determined that the events described in the original news release did not happen. The investigation is concluded.”

It was a lie. A hoax. Real 11-year-olds who were just attacked twice by a man with scissors don’t have national press conferences, with their smiling younger brother standing behind her.

11-year-olds do what they’re told — this surely wasn’t her idea. She was surely put up to it by her lying, hoaxing mother, who also spoke at the press conference, wearing a full, face-obscuring niqab. Interesting — the girl, her brother and her mother all have different last names. Are they part of a polygamous family? That might be a question that a reporter from the CBC might ask one day, when they’re done being stenographers for Islamic extremists, wearing niqabs and hijabs, smearing all of us as racists. They’re the racists — falsely accusing Canadians of crimes, of being haters. They’re the ones whipping up divisions amongst us. This family — and the school board and politicians and media who gave them a megaphone.

There was no attacker. But there was another crime: here’s section 140(1)c of the criminal code of Canada:

Public mischief

• 140 (1) Every one commits public mischief who, with intent to mislead, causes a peace officer to enter on or continue an investigation by

• (c) reporting that an offence has been committed when it has not been committed.

The girl’s niqab-wearing mother, Saima Samad, told police that an assault had been committed, when it had not. She misleads the world, she misled the media and politicians, and the school board. That’s corrupt, that’s unethical, that’s lying. But it’s not illegal.

What is illegal is lying to the police to get them to start an investigation.

Saima Samad has to be investigated for this hoax. She has to be.

Please sign my petition below if you agree.

Sign the petition!

We demand the Toronto Police Service investigate Saima Samad for misleading police by lying about her daughter being attacked for wearing a hijab.