'The mood is solemn': Ottawa's Jewish community marks anniversary of Oct. 7 Hamas attack

An event was held in Ottawa to honour the victims on the anniversary of the worst attack against Jewish people since the Holocaust.

It’s been one year since Jacqui Rivers Vital’s life changed forever.

On Oct. 7, 2023, her daughter, 33-year-old Adi Vital-Kaploun, was killed in her kibbutz near the Israel-Gaza border.

She was hiding in her home with her two young sons at the time of the attack. Both boys, one four-years-old, the other just six-months-old, survived.

Vital-Kaploun was one of roughly 1,200 Israelis killed by Hamas militants that day.

"My head knows Adi is not here. My heart knows she is not here, but I still can’t get past that. That she is not here." Rivers Vital said in an interview with CTV National News.

Adi Vital-Kaploun had deep ties to the Ottawa community, and her mother was in the capital at the time of the attack.