Hundreds of Montrealers came out to a vigil on Sunday in memory of the 50 victims of the terrorist attack in New Zealand this week.
They shared a message of peace and unity.
“We have to stand together,” said Ehab Lotayef, a human rights activist in Montreal.
“We have to speak very loudly against hate or anybody that speaks in a way that would encourage hate and haters to come out and create havoc on peoples’ lives.”
Rabbi Boris Dolin agreed.
“I hope that we can truly put aside our differences and find ways to work together not only in moments like this, but to work together to make a more peaceful world, get to know each other beyond our differences, and fix some of the broken-ness we experience every day,” he said.
“It’s sad that we’re coming together to mourn, but I hope that we can move forward together with strength.”
Talk also was about solutions and preventing such atrocities from taking place.
“The solution is education and responsibility,” said Imam Hassan Guillet of the Council of Imams of Quebec.
There was worry about the dangers of extremist political views.
“We tend to be blind to the fact that here, we have an extreme right, we have white supremacists, and it takes only one to act as we saw here,” said Abienne Presentey of Independent Jewish Voices, referring to the Quebec City mosque shooting.
“50 people are dead because one person acted.”
Mayor Valerie Plante was also on hand at Square Victoria.
“This is unacceptable and not the world we want,” she said.
