Calgary mosque marks anniversary of deadly Quebec City attack

Nearly four years have passed since the shooting spree in a Quebec City mosque that left six people dead and dozens suffering physical and psychological injuries.

Calgary's Akram Jomaa Islamic Centre has marked the event every year since, bringing together diverse voices to talk about the issues and forces behind it. 

This year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, they took the annual event online, bringing together religious leaders and police for a streamed discussion called Pushing Back The Darkness.

Panellists included Imams Fayaz Tilly and Jamal Hammoud, along with Cst. Youseff Abbas of the Calgary Police Service and Nader Khalil with Alberta's RCMP.

The event included a prayer for Quebec's victims and open discussions on everything from religion to security.

The victims' names were read aloud. The attacker's name was never mentioned.

"We all have an obligation to do whatever we can, ensuring our communities can consist of mosques, churches, synagogues and institutions and that there's no room for hate or bigotry," said Fayaz Tilly.

Tilly says as the world gets smaller it's also become much more divided over the past four years, with political rhetoric playing a big part in driving division and stoking the fear and hate that can lead to attacks like the one in Quebec. 

"Due to a lot of political rhetoric it seems prejudice, racism and bigotry is on the rise," said Tilly.

Tilly says Calgary certainly isn't immune from anti-Islamic sentiment and rhetoric, so discussions like those that took place at Wednesday's night's event are still as important as ever.

"If we don't continue the conversation and streamline these healthy discussions we're putting ourselves in a situation where we haven't learned from history," Tilly said.

He said after Quebec, and then the attack in New Zealand, mosques like Akram Jomaa have been in more regular contact with police as well as making sure their places of worship are designed to minimize risks from intruders.

Talking about a potential attack is now a sad reality.

"We have video cameras, volunteers observing certain services, as per the meetings we had after the situations in New Zealand and Quebec City," said Tilly.

"Ignorance at times perpetrates hate and violence and the more conversations we have, the more times we break bread, the more open houses we have, these things do work," said Tilly.

Tilly added that it's important not to forget the survivors and the friends and relatives of those who died four years ago, along with other victims of hate and terrorism.

"Our prayers are with them and we're wishing them safety and security and moments of joy and jubilation as well," Tilly said.