MONTREAL – Facing a wave of “racist and hateful” comments, a Quebec safari park, which welcomed a Muslim community group Sunday and allowed afternoon prayers to be held on its site, denounced the intolerant response and said it was “sorry if freedom of religion had offended some people.”

Jean-Pierre Ranger, president and owner of Parc Safari in Hemmingford, Que., said Wednesday that the online abuse is coming from a minority of Quebecers who don’t understand what happened at his facility.

“Intolerance is a factor that occurs, but it’s a small percentage,” he said in an interview.

“In some way, education will eventually bring the level of understanding a little higher, and there will be less stress in our society.”

The controversy erupted when a video was posted online for a visit of the Centre Communautaire Laurentien, part of the Muslim Association of Canada, outing to the Parc Safari to celebrate the end of Ramadan and Canada’s 150th anniversary.

The event had initially been scheduled for July 1 but was postponed because of rain.

A 46-second video was posted by a user going by the name guindon87 who wrote that the Hemmingford prayers showed “a serious lack of respect for Quebec and Quebecers.”

The video had attracted 45,000 views Wednesday morning and was picked up by TVA news and other media outlets in the province.

Samer Elniz, manager of the Centre Communautaire Laurentien, said he found the reaction to his group’s visit “ bizarre” and particularly troubling because they were there in part to celebrate Canada.

“Personally, I go into public parks and I see Christians conducting a mass, I see baptisms. That doesn’t bother me, even if I am Muslim,” he said.

“I like seeing the diversity, seeing people doing as they wish. There are countries where you don’t have those rights.”

The Parc Safari’s Facebook page response drew various reactions with some applauding its defense of religious freedom while others accused it of being a dupe for a proselytizing religion.

“We do not invite anybody with a political or religious agenda to the park. We invite parents with children to enjoy a family recreational park based on the presentation of animals from four major continents,” he said.

Ranger said people should understand that it was a gathering of families, not a religious event.

In the past, groups from a variety of religious backgrounds have benefited from the same arrangement, and it never caused a problem.

“I’m very hopeful that this is just an incident that allows people to think and come around to realizing that many are victims of propaganda. Let’s try to learn the real facts and be tolerant towards each other, and we’ll walk away from these traumatic years,” Ranger said.