KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – On this bitterly cold afternoon some 20 people gathered at the Grand Parade to remember the horrific attack three years ago on a Quebec City mosque and the six men who were murdered, Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, Abdelkrim Hassane, 41, Khaled Belkacemi, 60, Aboubaker Thabti, 44, Azzeddine Soufiane, 57, and Ibrahima Barry, 39.
“This commemoration here is to say that they will not be forgotten, and also to say that we take Islamophobia seriously in this city,” said Masuma Asad Khan, an organizer of the event.
“Muslim people are dealing with increased surveillance, and our human rights are being violated. We’re dealing with increased violence, Muslims are being hunted around the world, genocide is happening, simply because people are exercising their faith,” Khan said. “It’s very hard to be a Muslim in this state, it is especially very hard to be a Muslim person who does things around organizing.”
Judi Haiven spoke on behalf of Independent Jewish Voices. “A few days ago we commemorated the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The slogan we heard is never again, but never again should not just be for Jews, but for everyone,” Haiven said.
“We commemorate the tragic anniversary of January 29 with our hearts and souls by naming the denial and narrow mindedness in our nation. We hope to honour the lives of those six men, we will not allow them to be dismissed from our collective memory and we will not forget the suffering of their families,” said Haiven.
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