Quebec mosque massacre: 6 years later, the province remembers

Political voices united today to commemorate the tragic attack on the Quebec mosque. Six people were brutally murdered and twenty were injured on January 29, 2017.

Several rallies will be held across the province, in memory of the victims. In Quebec, a ceremony attended by Justin Trudeau, but not François Legault, will be held for the first time in the prayer room of the great mosque at the end of the day. It’s in this same room that the shooter had entered before firing on a group of faithful.

“On this National Day of Commemoration of the Quebec Mosque Attack and Action Against Islamophobia, we honor those we lost six years ago. We stand with their loved ones and the Muslim community and we continue to fight against Islamophobia,” said Justin Trudeau on Twitter.

François Legault, who will be replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Geneviève Guilbault and by the minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale region Jonatan Julien to represent the government, declared “salute the memory of the victims”. The Prime Minister of Quebec invokes “family obligations” to justify his absence.

“Ibrahima Barry, Mamadou Tanou Barry, Khaled Belkacemi, Abdelkrim Hassane, Azzedine Soufiane, Aboubaker Thabti: we will never forget you,” he tweeted.

The Samuel-De Champlain bridge illuminated in green

In Montreal, the Samuel bridge -De Champlain will be illuminated in green from nightfall to pay tribute to the victims of the Muslim faith.

The mayor of the metropolis Valérie Plante considers that the attack on the Quebec mosque “marks our collective history forever. We have a duty to remember,” she said.

Recall that since the event, on January 29 has been declared the National Day of Action against Islamophobia in Canada by the Trudeau government.

Earlier this week, he appointed former journalist Amira Elghawaby as Ottawa's special representative for the fight against Islamophobia.