Hey guys,
It’s with great sadness I write this blog today. I was
debating whether to discuss the awful event that occurred in Quebec City on
Sunday. Then, out of respect for six people who lost their lives, I cannot
ignore this matter. Also, I am sure as a reader of this blog you are thinking “how
do you feel about living in Quebec City now?” As my loyal reader, I wanted to
be honest and let you know, as an immigrant, my feelings and reaction to this.
That Sunday! (29th January 2017) Gary and I had a lazy day after being busy the
day before. The Sunday was filled with complete laziness. We stayed in our
lounging clothes and the most we probably did was practiced French and Gary Skyped
his family. As the evening approached we decide to catch-up on some British T.V
programmes. We both were in the Sunday mood of dreading getting up early and
back to our routine on Monday. On the sofa, we were cuddled up watching the
latest episode of Taboo. The sight of Tom Hardy was a good distraction from how
I was feeling. It had been a few hours since I’d been on my phone so I decided
to browse through Facebook. As usual I was flicking through memes and laughing
at the odd video of someone doing something stupid. Through Facebook I follow
the news pages, e.g. ITV and BBC news, to see what the latest in my hometown is.
Whilst flicking through my newsfeed, the ITV page had posted ‘BREAKING NEWS: Reports
of shots being fired in…’ I thought how awful. It is upsetting to admit this
headline was no surprise. So I read on. ‘…Canadian Mosque… Quebec City.’ What!?
I was in complete shock. Of all the places on Earth this would be the last
place this would happen; so I thought. Immediately I told Gary. He frantically
sat-up on the sofa and his first words ‘NO F*****G WAY!’ In dismay I passed him
my phone to show him the article on the ITV news website. We both desperately searched
other websites to get answers. Why the hell would this happen here! Even when
we got settled into bed, knowing we needed to get to sleep, we felt unsettled
and were still filtering through the websites. For some reason this affected us
more than other terrorists events. Gary had made a comment which sent shivers
down my spine and made me feel even more physically sick. This was the week I had started my French
Course, There was a variety of people in my class which included male Muslims.
Usually I wouldn’t think the worst but on this occasion I did. There isn’t a
huge Muslim community here and the chances of them being affected in some way
were high.
We did eventually get to sleep and before we knew it my alarm
was going off at 6:30am. Straight-away I checked the news and my College’s
Facebook page. I thought I’d check if the College was closed out of respect for
the Muslim students. It wasn’t and I got ready. Walking into the class was
strange. I don’t quite know what I was expected but it felt like every other
day. Our tutor asked us “Comment ca va?” – How are you? The majority of the
class answered “Ca va bien.” – Things are going well. However one of the Muslim
men answered “Ca va mal.” – Things are going wrong. Later on, in broken English,
I expressed my condolences to him and his community. It was upsetting to see
the sadness in his eyes.
When I got home, I searched for more information on what had occurred;
this included browsing Facebook. An event written in French kept popping up on
my newsfeed. I decided to view it and translated the words to English. It was a
vigil in the Saint-Foy area, near to the Mosque where the horrific event occurred.
I felt compelled to go and show my respect to the people who had been killed,
their families and the Muslim community. A few messages were exchanged between
Gary and I, it was decided I would pick him up from work and we’d go straight
there.
We parked the car a 10 minute walk away. As soon as we got
out of the car we joined a crowd of people walking towards the vigil. There were
thousands of people there; the majority were, assumingly, non-Muslim White Canadians.
It was a powerful sight and the atmosphere
was a mixture between peace, love, unity and sorrow. We did try to get near to
the stage to hear the likes of the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau,
and Mayor of Quebec City, Regis Labeaume, gives speeches. It was impossible in
the huge crowd to get close enough to even hear what was being said. I did take
candles to lie in the snow in the memorial. Unfortunately, the candles wouldn’t
stay lit in the minus temperatures and gusts of wind. Later on, I did light a
candle at home. Alternatively, we did stand by the barrier near to the Mosque.
It did bring a lump to both of our throats when I said “it’s 7:30pm, I can’t
even imagine what happened here 24 hours ago.” Gary and I hugged each other.
Side by side, we took a moment to remember the six victims. Then we walked
along the street of News reporter vans and headed home.
The victims of the Quebec City mosque shooting. Clockwise
from top left: Azzeddine Soufiane, 57; Khaled Belkacemi, 60; Ibrahima Barry,
39; Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42; Abdelkrim Hassane, 41; and Boubaker Thabti, 44.
(HANDOUTS, MOUSSA SANGARE/THE CANADIAN PRESS, FACEBOOK)
I want to finish off by saying thank-you for taking some time
out of your day to read this post. Maybe
you can light a candle to shine some light on these six lives and their
families. Let’s not forget the 19 people who were injured and the other people
who witnessed the vicious attack. For me, I have been humbled by the reaction
of Quebecois and Canadian people. It has also been a lesson that hate exists
everywhere on this Earth – which I thought would be less of an issue in Canada.
It is unnerving to think there maybe repercussions of this hate crime but I
will rise above it. I have decided to be an advocate for love and peace. This
is something we all can believe in and act upon!
