Quebec mosque shooting anniversary includes call to act against hate, discrimination

This year the community also wants to spark action on gun control, systemic racism and the impact on the Muslim community of Quebec's secularism law, known as Bill 21.

Five years after a gunman killed six men inside a Quebec City mosque, survivors of the attack and members of the community will gather Saturday to mark the tragedy, but they are also using the anniversary to highlight ongoing discrimination faced by Muslims and issue a call for gun control.

Boufeldja Benabdallah, the co-founder of the mosque, told a news conference Thursday that his thoughts were with six fallen brothers, the five men who were seriously injured and 35 other survivors who live with memories of the bloodshed.

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.

Benabdallah said this year the community also wants to spark action on gun control, systemic racism and the impact on the Muslim community of Quebec’s secularism law, known as Bill 21.

“We said, not only will we make speeches and appeals, but we must take action.”

He said there’s more openness among the Quebec City population since the mosque attacks, but Islamophobia remains a scourge online, coming from an “active minority” on social media who can influence others. Organizers of Saturday’s memorial event near the mosque, which will be livestreamed, said fighting such hatred requires solidarity from everyone, including political allies.

“In Quebec, our premier has not yet recognized either systemic racism or Islamophobia as existing,” Maryam Bessiri, a Quebec City resident, told the news conference. “When we name things, we put in place the tools to fight them.”

Benabdallah said it was initially hard convincing worshippers to come back to the mosque when every unexpected noise would have people looking behind their backs. But renovations and added security measures, completed last year, have helped calm some of those fears, he said.