Quebec mosque attack anniversary renews call to end anti-Muslim hate

Montreal, Quebec, Canada – Canadian Muslim leaders are calling for an extremity to Islamophobic rhetoric and fearmongering, arsenic the state prepares to people the nine-year day of a deadly onslaught connected a mosque successful the state of Quebec.

Stephen Brown, CEO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), said Thursday’s day is simply a reminder that Islamophobia successful Canada “is not benign”.

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“It’s thing that unluckily kills people,” Brown told Al Jazeera. “[The anniversary] forces america to retrieve that there’s existent consequences to hatred.”

Six Muslim men were killed erstwhile a gunman opened occurrence astatine the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre successful Quebec City connected January 29, 2017, marking the deadliest attack connected a location of worship successful Canadian history.

The battle near Quebec City’s tight-knit Muslim assemblage profoundly shaken, spurred vigils and condemnation crossed Canada, and shone a spotlight connected a planetary emergence successful anti-Muslim hatred and radicalisation.

The Canadian authorities denounced the shooting arsenic a “terrorist attack” against Muslims and pledged to tackle the underlying issues.

In 2021, it announced it was designating January 29 arsenic the National Day of Remembrance of the Quebec City Mosque Attack and Action against Islamophobia.

But Brown said helium was not definite whether the lessons learned aft what happened successful Quebec City were being afloat remembered today, astir a decennary later.

“Right aft the Quebec City mosque massacre, determination truly was a tendency successful nine to effort to mend immoderate of the wounds and physique immoderate bridges,” helium said.

“Unfortunately, what a batch of radical are seeing [now] – and particularly for Muslims that unrecorded successful Quebec – … is simply a monolithic instrumentality to utilizing Islamophobia and spreading fearfulness of Muslims for governmental gain.”

[Al Jazeera]

Laws and rhetoric

Brown pointed to a bid of measures enactment guardant by Quebec’s right-wing Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) authorities that quality rights groups accidental people Muslim Quebecers.

In powerfulness since 2018, the CAQ passed a instrumentality successful 2019 to barroom immoderate nationalist servants from wearing spiritual symbols connected the job, including headscarves worn by Muslim women, Sikh turbans and Jewish yarmulkes.

The authorities justified the law, known arsenic Bill 21, arsenic being portion of its propulsion to support secularism successful the province, which successful the 1960s underwent a alleged “Quiet Revolution” to interruption the Catholic Church’s power implicit authorities institutions.

But rights advocates said Bill 21 discriminated against spiritual minorities and would person a disproportionately harmful effect connected Muslim women, successful particular.

As the CAQ’s popularity has plummeted successful caller months, it has passed and enactment guardant much authorities to fortify its alleged “state secularism” exemplary successful beforehand of a looming provincial predetermination aboriginal this year.

Most recently, successful precocious November, the CAQ introduced a bill that would widen the spiritual symbols prohibition to daycares and backstage schools, among different places.

Bill 9 besides bars schools from offering meals based exclusively connected spiritual dietary requirements – specified arsenic kosher oregon halal lunches – and outlaws “collective spiritual practices, notably prayer” successful public.

The onslaught connected Quebec City’s largest mosque lasted little than 2 minutes [File: Jillian Kestler-D’Amours/Al Jazeera]

“Quebec has adopted its ain exemplary of authorities secularism,” said the provincial curate liable for secularism, Jean-Francois Roberge.

Roberge has rejected the thought that the measure was targeting Muslim oregon Jewish Quebecers, telling reporters during a quality league connected November 27 that the “same rules use to everybody”.

But the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) – which is progressive successful a suit against Bill 21 that volition beryllium heard by the Supreme Court of Canada aboriginal this twelvemonth – said Bill 9 “masks favoritism arsenic secularism”.

“These harmful bans disproportionately people and marginalize spiritual and racialized minorities, particularly Muslim women,” Harini Sivalingam, manager of the CCLA’s equality programme, said successful a statement.

According to Brown astatine NCCM, the Quebec government’s moves person sent “the connection to nine that there’s thing inherently unsafe oregon incorrect with being a visible, practising Muslim”.

He warned that, erstwhile radical successful positions of authorization usage anti-Muslim rhetoric to effort to people governmental points, “it gives licence to those who already clasp a batch of these Islamophobic views oregon hateful views to really instrumentality it retired connected people”.

‘Hate continues to threaten’

At the national level, Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s peculiar typical connected combating Islamophobia, said the Canadian authorities has shown a continued committedness to tackling the problem.

That includes done an Action Plan connected Combatting Hate, launched successful 2024, which has devoted millions of dollars to assemblage groups, antifascism programmes and different initiatives.

But Elghawaby told Al Jazeera that Islamophobia has nevertheless been rising successful Canada, “whether it’s done police-reported hatred crimes [or] whether it’s Canadians sharing that they’re experiencing favoritism astatine enactment [and] astatine school”.

Three achromatic chromatic plinths basal successful a memorial to the victims of the attack, extracurricular the Quebec City mosque, successful 2022 [File: Jillian Kestler-D’Amours/Al Jazeera]

According to Statistics Canada, 211 anti-Muslim hatred crimes were reported to constabulary successful 2023 – a 102-percent leap compared with the erstwhile year. There was a flimsy summation successful 2024 – the astir caller twelvemonth for which the information is disposable – with 229 incidents reported.

Elghawaby, whose bureau was established aft another anti-Muslim attack killed 4 members of a azygous household successful London, Ontario, successful 2021, said the figures underscore “that hatred continues to endanger Canadians”.

“Canada, contempt a planetary estimation of being a state that welcomes radical from astir the world, does conflict with division, with polarisation, with the emergence of extremist narratives,” she said, adding that remembering the Quebec City mosque onslaught remains critical.

“[The families of the men killed] don’t privation the nonaccomplishment of their loved ones to beryllium successful vain. They privation Canadians to proceed to basal with them, to proceed to basal against Islamophobia, and to bash their portion successful their ain circles to assistance beforehand understanding,” Elghawaby said.

“History tin sadly repetition itself if we don’t larn from the lessons of the past.”