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Quebec mosque shooting Remmebrance day at Vancouver Jamea Masjid
2-04-2020
On Wednesday January 29th, Community and faith leaders gathered at Vancouver Jamea Masjid to remember the most heinous incident in Canadian history where 6 Muslim worshippers were gunned down inside a Quebec Mosque during prayers.
January 29th has now become a day of remembrance across Canada. After three years since the gunman has shot dead six men in a mosque on Jan. 29, 2017, the incident refreshes a dialogue on how to address the rise of Islamophobia.
Although activists, Politicians, civil liberties organizations and Imams across Canada has been busy dealing with the consequences of hatred in the society, our governments are in an impasse in clamping the rise of hatred across Canada.
The men who died included: Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, Abdelkrim Hassane, 41, Khaled Belkacemi, 60, Aboubaker Thabti, 44, Azzeddine Soufiane, 57, and Ibrahima Barry, 39.
They left behind their wives and 17 children between them. Several other worshippers were injured when a gunman opened fire as evening prayers drew to a close.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged the anniversary and said in a statement, “Today, we mourn those who were senselessly killed, and suffered at the hands of ignorance, Islamophobia, and racism,”
“We share the pain of their children, spouses, friends, and neighbours, who were robbed of their loved ones far too soon. Our thoughts are also with those injured, whose lives forever changed after this brutal and inhumane attack.”
The City of Vancouver marked the anniversary by proclaiming it as a day of remembrance and action on Islamophobia.
"Islamophobia is alive and well and we need to fight it," said Vancouver Coun. Jean Swanson, who put forward the motion to make Jan. 29th a day of remembrance and action on Islamaphobia.
Rabbi Philip Bregman from Temple Sholom of Vancouver also spoke at the remembrance at Vancouver Jamia Masjid.
The Rabbi acknowledged what Haroon Khan said, “We like to think that we are immune to this, we are not.” He said, “Since January 2017 in the last three years more than 780 people have been killed in mosques, churches, synagogues, and temples.”
He shared a beautiful story of how one Jewish restaurant and one Palestinian restaurant started a program at UBC in the name of taste of Coexistence where food is shared to make a difference in the world.
The program included other Speakers and concluded with prayers.
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