January 27, 2023

Education the key to combatting Islamaphobia. “When people understand who we are, we’re not that scary anymore.”

This month’s incident, and the tragedy of six years ago and others since are clear signs Islamophobia persists and must be addressed before it escalates into actions, attendees of Friday’s event said.

“This is a sombre and solemn occasion to remember the lives that were lost and rededicate ourselves to the work that has to be done to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again. Because it is happening again,” Miranda Gallo of Islamic Relief Canada said to a crowd of more than 70 Muslims, supporters and local politicians gathered in the falling snow to remember the killings that occurred six years ago, on Jan. 29, 2017.

In speaking with Aymen Derbali, who survived the attack but was left a paraplegic, Gallo said she was reminded that the massacre in Quebec City didn’t happen without warning — the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec had been subject to numerous forms of harassment in the weeks and months prior, including hateful messages left on their voicemail, anti-Islamic graffiti on their walls, and a pig’s severed head left on their doorstep. 

“There were so many signs of what was to come. It was a reminder that Islamophobia in any form, no matter how small, if it seems casual, even at the dinner table, at work, has to be called out,” she said. “Because whether it’s Islamophobia, antisemitism, other forms of hatred, and intolerance, it just festers and grows and it must be stopped in its tracks.”

In 2021, the federal government announced Jan. 29 would become a national day of remembrance for the 2017 Quebec City mosque attack, to honour the victims and the survivors. The day is also meant to bring awareness of Islamaphobia and to promote actions to prevent it. Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Manon Massé told those gathered at the vigil in Verdun her party is working to have the day recognized by the provincial government as well.

Ignorance of the Muslim religion and its adherents is the main reason Islamaphobia persists, said Samer Elniz, spokesperson for the Islamic Centre of Verdun where a man tried to enter the mosque during prayers on Jan. 3 after verbally attacking two men outside on the street.

The incident was caught on the mosque’s security cameras, and is being investigated by the Montreal police hate incidents and hate crimes unit. Congregants locked the door and kept the man from entering.

Asked if the government was doing enough, he said: “I don’t think so. With laws like Bill 21 (that ban certain government employees including police and teachers from wearing religious articles like the hijab) sadly, no, they are not,” said Elniz, who is also the communications co-ordinator for the Muslim Association of Canada. “It would take just five to 10 minutes to sensitize people of what the religion really is, or what Islamophobia is.”

Read the full article: Verdun vigil honours victims of Quebec mosque massacre | Montreal Gazette

– By René Bruemmer, Montreal Gazette