The university responsible for curating the programme and the museum that provided it with a platform issued an apology on Tuesday after an uproar over a film with a poster found offensive by Hindu groups in Canada.
“We regret that certain content in our Under The Tent presentation on Saturday, July 2nd has caused [offence] and we are taking steps to address this,”, the university said in a post on the page where the event was advertised.
“We are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion while at the same time respecting the diversity of beliefs and points of view in our society. We acknowledge the need to explore and examine complex topics sensitively,” it said.
A spokesperson for the university also said its logo was used on the controversial poster “without permission”.
The film, Kaali, made by Leena Manimekalai, was shown at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto as part of a multimedia storytelling project, Under the Tent, which was organised by the Toronto Metropolitan University’s CERC in Migration and Integration.
The Hindu community, which wrote a letter of complaint to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, was upset over the poster depicting Goddess Kali smoking a cigarette.