Ceremony honours memory of those killed in 2017 Quebec City mosque attack
CTV
The president of the Quebec City mosque where six worshippers were killed and five others seriously wounded in a 2017 attack says he sees a similar climate today to the one that preceded the massacre.
The president of the Quebec City mosque where six worshippers were killed and five others seriously wounded in a 2017 attack says he sees a similar climate today to the one that preceded the massacre.
Mohamed Labidi, who was vice-president of the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre Centre at the time of the attack, said that while the events of Jan. 29, 2017, have become the subject of annual remembrance, the ongoing climate of Islamophobia is not talked about enough.
"The mosque's worshippers reported disgusting comments, vandalism and violent actions towards our community (before the 2017 attack.) However, the biggest threat was the atmosphere of impunity. Hateful people felt free to attack us, our lives were considered cheap and unimportant," he told a news conference in Ottawa. "What makes me angry today is that we're once again living in this atmosphere and environment."
Labidi said he believes Canadian governments -- at multiple levels -- have allowed this atmosphere to return since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas.
He made the comments at a news conference organized by the National Council of Canadian Muslims, where Stephen Brown, the organization's chief executive, said he had cancelled a planned meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Brown said his organization is receiving more complaints related to Islamaphobia than at any time in the past and that Trudeau's government has failed to follow through on an election promise to create a victims of hate support fund that would have provided compensation to the survivors of the mosque massacre.
A ceremony commemorating victims of the 2017 mosque attack is scheduled to take place Monday evening in Quebec City.
