Ceremony for Quebec mosque attack to be held in prayer room where shooting occurred
Ceremony for Quebec mosque attack to be held in prayer room where shooting occurred
Quebec City -
A commemoration planned for Sunday to mark the sixth anniversary of the Quebec City mosque shooting will be held for the first time inside the prayer room where six men were killed.
Mamadou Tanou Barry, Ibrahima Barry, Khaled Belkacemi, Abdelkrim Hassane, Azzeddine Soufiane and Aboubaker Thabti were gunned down shortly after evening prayers had ended at the Islamic Cultural Centre on Jan. 29, 2017.
Maryam Bessiri, a spokesperson for the citizens' committee organizing the event, said that holding the commemoration in the prayer room was an emotional and difficult decision, but an important one.
"For us, this return to the prayer room is very significant," Bessiri said. "Together, we can honour the memory of the victims and reflect on the inclusive society we want to build."
Five other men who were seriously injured and 35 other people who were present live with memories of the bloodshed.
Ahmed Cheddadi, a survivor of the mosque shooting, said showing openness must not fall solely on the Muslim community, but on Quebec society as a whole.
"I'm here because I really feel a responsibility to my brothers who fell right next to me," said Cheddadi, who has been heavily involved with the survivors' association since the attack. "It is an event that we must never forget, and this responsibility must also be continuously shared by society."
He said many things have improved since the attack, notably the creation by the federal government of the National Day of Remembrance of the Quebec City Mosque Attack and Action against Islamophobia. Ottawa also brought in gun laws in response to the 2017 rampage.
Mohamed Labidi, president of the mosque, said there was the "duty of memory towards the victims who fell in this mosque by the bullets of hatred" and the annual event is necessary to promote good relations.
He called on the Quebec government to do more.
Labidi said that while steps are being taken to foster inclusiveness and eliminate Islamophobia, legislation like Quebec's Bill 21 has the opposite effect. The province's secularism law bans the wearing of religious symbols such as hijabs, kippas and turbans by teachers, judges, police and other government employees deemed to be in positions of authority.
"It does a lot of harm to our community," Labidi said. "Our brothers and sisters all feel targeted by this law, which violates our rights and freedoms."
Labidi said he knows of about 50 people who have left Quebec City over the law, which was passed in June 2019. Cheddadi recounted a recent conversation with his teenage daughter, who asked if deciding to wear a hijab would cut short her dream of being a teacher.
"I told her, sadly my girl, you will lose it here in Quebec, but you have a solution. You can go to Ontario or another province," Cheddadi said.
This week, the mosque in the Quebec City borough of Ste-Foy is holding open houses in an effort to demystify the community to the local population.
In addition to politicians and other dignitaries, the anniversary event will hear from youth from the Quebec City mosque and young people from London, Ont., where in 2021 a Muslim family was run down in an alleged terrorism-related murder.
Bessiri said it is a way to ensure the continuity of the commemoration by involving younger generations and "ensuring that there will be a succession and to look to the future," she said.
A Quebec City man who was 27 at the time of the attack pleaded guilty to the murders in 2018, with a judge later saying he was driven by a "visceral hate" of Muslims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2023.
Rogers Communications Inc's $26-billion takeover of Shaw Communications Inc. cleared the last regulatory hurdle Friday, more than two years after the deal was first announced.
The six people whose bodies were recovered from the St. Lawrence River Thursday consisted of two families of Romania and Indian origins who were likely trying to enter the U.S. illegally, police said Friday.
Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, prosecutors and defense lawyers said Thursday, making him the first former U.S. president to face a criminal charge and jolting his bid to retake the White House next year.
Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne has approved Rogers Communications Inc.'s $20-billion takeover of rival telecom Shaw Communications Inc., but there are conditions attached and penalties of up to $1 billion if the companies violate them.
The numbers of babies born with syphilis in Canada are rising at a far faster rate than recorded in the United States or Europe, an increase public health experts said is driven by increased methamphetamine use and lack of access to the public health system for Indigenous people.
Disgraced South African Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius has been denied parole, the lawyer for Reeva Steenkamp's parents said after the parole hearing.
A Toronto man, whose neighbours vanished eight years ago and left their home completely abandoned, said he's fed up living next door to a property that is in complete disarray.
Former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole says he will not seek re-election and plans to resign his seat this spring. The Ontario MP led the Conservatives and served as official Opposition leader from August 2020 until February 2022, when a majority of his caucus voted to remove him from the post.
The vote of a Manhattan grand jury to indict the Republican former president on charges related to hush money payments made on his behalf during his 2016 presidential campaign catapults the now-candidate Donald Trump into a new era of legal risk and complicates his attempts to return to the White House.
A 10-year-old boy is dead following a chain-reaction crash on the QEW. The highway was closed for several hours as police worked to piece together exactly what happened.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered a brief initial response to the final report from the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) into Canada's worst mass shooting, which claimed the lives of 22 people in Nova Scotia in 2020. Vowing changes will come, here's what Trudeau said in Truro, N.S.
The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) has issued a flood outlook. Upwards of 50mm of rain is expected in 24 hours with minor flooding expected within low-lying flood plains.
The bodies of six people, including one child, were found in the St. Lawrence River Thursday afternoon after an air search involving the Canadian Coast Guard, the Akwesasne Mohawk Police said.
A northern Ontario man has been banned from licenced hunting and fined $5,000 after pleading guilty to having more than six times the legal limit of grouse and obstructing conservation officers.
As the dust continues to settle around Wednesday's verdict in the Renee Sweeney murder trial attention is now turning to what's next for the case. CTV News spoke to a legal expert and here is what he had to say.
The bodies of six people, including one child, were found in the St. Lawrence River Thursday afternoon after an air search involving the Canadian Coast Guard, the Akwesasne Mohawk Police said.
At Academy Farms in Langley, they raise bison and water buffalo, but this is more than a farm. It's a place that's helping people from across the country find their way out of addiction.
Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, prosecutors and defense lawyers said Thursday, making him the first former U.S. president to face a criminal charge and jolting his bid to retake the White House next year.
The redevelopment planning process was quietly halted earlier this year, and now the Kwikwetlem First Nation is speaking up about what they’d like to see happen on the land where the Riverview Hospital operated for a century.
The federal government now expects far more Canadians with long-overdue dental needs to sign up for its insurance plan, and the health minister says that's why the estimated cost has risen by $7 billion.
The Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry filed a charter challenge against the provincial government for stipulations in its disability program that require seniors to take their Canada Pension Plan (CPP) money out early.
Videos posted on the social media app TikTok showing individuals in Regina experiencing mental health crises are bringing into question the stigma still attached to addictions.
The six people whose bodies were recovered from the St. Lawrence River Thursday consisted of two families of Romania and Indian origins who were likely trying to enter the U.S. illegally, police said Friday.
The Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry filed a charter challenge against the provincial government for stipulations in its disability program that require seniors to take their Canada Pension Plan (CPP) money out early.
