Asalamu alaikum / Peace be upon you,
This Saturday, on June 6th, marks the fifth anniversary of an event that forever changed the Muslim community’s relationship to Canada.
On that dy in 2021, when so many of us were adapting to life under a pandemic, a Muslim family out for a walk in the streets of London, ON were met with a total nghtmare.
In the blink of an eye, four members of that family—Our London Family—were killed in an act of Islamophobic terrorism, when a white nationalist killer deliberately ran his truck into them.
The story is now fmiliar to many of us, but the pain will never truly subside.
The only surviving member of the family out that night was a young boy who was severely injured and must grow up with the deep trauma of what occurred.
The mass killer was the first person in Canadian history to be convicted also of terrorism based on his white nationalist and supremacist beliefs.
Canada, in the span of a few years, became a site of inspiration for violent Islamophobia, as this event in London, as well as the 2017 Quebec City mosque attack, were both cited in the manifesto left by shooters who carried our the recent San Diego mosque attack.
Today, as we head into this sobering anniversary, we renew our commitment to eradicating this scourge among Canadian society. The problem is growing: a vandalized mosque in New Brunswick, a destroyed Muslim school bus in Ontario, and a whole regime of laws in Quebec that limit religious freedom, Muslim life, and Canadian democracy itself.
We are fighting an uphill battle, but we will never give up.
The London community is holding a commemoration tonight at 6pm.
Details here: https://london.ca/newsroom/hon
This June 6th, let us commit to turning remembrance into commitment, and steadfastness into action.
Greetings
NCCM Team
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