Folks throughout Quebec gathered Saturday to honour the victims of the 2017 mosque capturing in Quebec Metropolis, when six Muslim worshippers have been killed and 5 have been critically injured by a lone gunman.
In Quebec Metropolis, a vigil happened earlier than the Islamic Cultural Centre, with survivors and their households in attendance in addition to Premier Francois Legault.
“We commemorate the fifth anniversary of a horrible killing [and fulfill] our responsibility of remembrance to our brothers who fell below the bullets of hatred,” mentioned Aymen Derbali, a survivor of the capturing, who was hit by a number of bullets and now makes use of a wheelchair.
These killed within the Jan. 29 assault have been Ibrahima Barry, Mamadou Tanou Barry, Khaled Belkacemi, Aboubaker Thabti, Abdelkrim Hassane and Azzedine Soufiane, who had 17 youngsters between them.
Survivor Mohamed Hafid spoke as properly, reminding the group that “sadly, racism and Islamophobia nonetheless exist in our society” and that violence should be denounced “in all its varieties.”
In his speech, Premier Francois Legault mentioned that “Quebec has not forgotten and by no means will neglect.”
Quebec Metropolis's mayor was additionally in attendance.
Bruno Marchand acknowledged that "distinction doesn't hurt us, it enriches us. We're all completely different within the eyes of another person [...] within the sport of distinction, all of us lose."
MONTREAL
A vigil additionally happened at Montreal’s Parc station round 5 p.m., with a row of individuals bearing indicators and candles standing earlier than the pillars marking the constructing’s entrance.
One of many occasion organizers, Ehab Lotayet, mentioned extra wants be finished to make situations safer for Muslims.
“We now have an issue with the best way Muslims are perceived,” he mentioned. “It's a drawback that the Muslim neighborhood is attempting to work on, and it takes it critically. But in addition, it wants the cooperation of society at giant and the federal government, the individuals in energy.”
Some say Invoice 21 isn’t serving to the trigger.
Enacted in 2019, the invoice prohibits civil service staff from carrying non secular symbols, embody hijabs and different clothes objects frequent throughout the Muslim religion.
“If something, Invoice 21 is the precise reverse of what we must be doing to ensure we restore our feeling of security as Muslims of Quebec,” mentioned acknowledged Sarah Abou-Bakr of the Nationwide Council of Canadian Muslims.
“A sense that we’ve misplaced ever because the Quebec Metropolis mosque capturing and even from earlier than."
With information from CTV’s Matt Grillo and The Canadian Press.
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