Hundreds attend solemn vigil 3 years after London, Ont., truck attack
CBC
Hundreds of people gathered Thursday to mark the third year since a man motivated by hate for Muslims carried out a deadly truck attack against a family in London, Ont.
The vigil was held at the site of the attack that shocked not only the Muslim community, but the country as a whole, when it happened on June 6, 2021. It's the first commemoration since the man responsible for the attack was convicted by a jury, and deemed a terrorist by the judge overseeing his trial.
"Despite our fears, despite our reality, despite our pain, we gather here today where three generations of a family were taken from us," event organizer Israa Ibrahim told the crowd.
The vigil was organized by a group of Muslim youth, some friends with victim Yumnah, who came together after the terrorist attack. They call themselves the Youth Coalition Combating Islamophobia (YCCI), and they've stayed together for support and to work on education campaigns to fight against Islamophobia.
On June 6, 2021, the Afzaal family was out for a walk when Salman Afzaal, his wife, Madiha Salman, grandmother, Talat, and the couple's daughter, Yumnah, were killed by self-proclaimed white nationalist Nathaniel Veltman, who was 21 at the time.
The killer, whose trial concluded with sentencing this February, admitted to police that he was fuelled by hatred for Muslims. The jury agreed he purposely hit the family at the intersection of South Carriage and Hyde Park roads.
"It makes me really happy to see that the community came out for an event like this to honor our London family again for the third time," said YCCI volunteer Nawaal Salat.
On top of the creation of the YCCI, the truck attack spurred lawmakers to appoint Canada's first special representative to combat Islamophobia.
That representative, Amira Elghawaby, spoke at Thursday's vigil, stressing both the importance of it and other community events that bring people together face-to-face. She said human connection across cultural and religious boundaries is key to fighting hate.
Also present at the vigil were City of London officials, including Amher Khan, London's Muslim community liaison advisor.
According to Khan, who is in charge of the city's action plan to fight Islamophobia, a rise in hate crimes reported by police in London and elsewhere only added importance to Thursday's vigil.
"The terror attack tried to divide us. Instead, the city has come together and so have the youth," he said, pointing to the YCCI. "We see the youth driving community. We see the youth at the forefront of making sure that our London family is remembered."
With the killer's trial over, and the attack having happened three years ago, Khan said the hundreds of Londoners who turned out to the vigil are a testament to the community's passion and drive in fighting hate.
"It still matters. [The killer being in prison] doesn't mean our healing and our commitment to ending Islamophobia stops."
Aggressive patients and lack of security are making nurses feel unsafe in a rural Western Manitoba emergency union, says the Manitoba Nurses Union.
Saskatoon resident Delynne Bortis knew her commute to work Tuesday morning would be particularly difficult.
WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence:
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.