‘Duty to remember’: Events to mark eighth anniversary of Quebec City mosque attack

MONTREAL — Only one bullet hole remains in the wall of the Centre culturel islamique de Québec, eight years after a gunman stormed into the mosque and killed six Muslim men who had come to pray.

While a major renovation erased most traces of the attack, the mosque’s president, Mohamed Labidi, says the one hole was left there as a reminder to never forget the Jan. 29, 2017, shooting that claimed the lives of Ibrahima Barry, Mamadou Tanou Barry, Khaled Belkacemi, Abdelkrim Hassane, Azzedine Soufiane and Aboubaker Thabti.

But as time passes, he worries the wider population is no longer heeding the message of remembrance.

“Unfortunately this year, there was not much enthusiasm from our Quebec brothers who did not answer the call of our mosque open house and open door conferences,” he said. Attendance at the events and lectures, which were organized to build bridges between communities in the lead-up to the anniversary, was disappointing, he added.

“It seems like people are starting to forget,” he said.

On Wednesday, events were held in Montreal and Quebec City to mark the anniversary.

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante presided over a ceremony and moment of silence at Montreal City Hall. The Quebec City attack sent shock waves through the province, Plante said, imploring Montrealers not to “give in to fear, to exclusion and to discourse that can sometimes divide us.”

“This commemoration we have every year reminds us where hate can lead, which we have to avoid at all costs as a society,” she said

Samer Majzoub, president of the Canadian Muslim Forum, was also among those in attendance. “Today, we pause to honour the lives lost, the families forever impacted, and the community that still carries the weight of that devastating day,” he said.

After a minute of silence, officials and religious leaders lit candles for each of the victims.

Following the ceremony, Alia Hassan-Cournol, the official overseeing the anti-racism and discrimination file at the City of Montreal, said the purpose of the gathering was to send a “message of hope” and engage in dialogue in order to combat Islamophobic and anti-Arab sentiment.

“We need to remember because we don’t want the Quebec (City) attack to happen again,” said Hassan-Cournol in an interview.

Speaking with The Canadian Press after the ceremony, Imam Imran Shariff said that gathering with people of diverse backgrounds and faiths is critical to overcoming negativity but admitted that the pain of the past is still felt.

“Many years have passed but the wound is still fresh,” he said.

A vigil was held Wednesday outside Montreal’s Parc metro station to remember the victims.

“Their violent deaths left six widows without their husbands and 17 orphans without their fathers,” Samira Laouni, one of the vigil organizers, said in a news release. “Their stories should never be forgotten. We must always remember.”

On Saturday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau travelled to Quebec City to meet with the families of the victims. Quebec City’s mayor and Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s special representative on combating Islamophobia, attended a public ceremony earlier in the day.

“When I met once again this past weekend with the widows and children of those who were killed, they shared their hope that fellow Canadians will stand together in solidarity. And never forget,” Elghawaby wrote on X Wednesday.

Alexandre Bissonnette pleaded guilty in March 2018 to six counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder, and has been sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for at least 25 years. The gunman admitted to walking into the mosque and opening fire just after evening prayers, killing six people and injuring several others, including a man who was left paralyzed.

Labidi said he believes there has been a “general improvement” in attitudes toward Muslim people since the attack — despite some setbacks — and praised the federal government for its actions to fight Islamophobia, such as appointing Elghawaby.

However, he is more critical of the Quebec government, which said recently it plans to strengthen the province’s secularism laws and end prayer in public places. Premier François Legault said last year that he wanted to send a “very clear message to Islamists” that Quebec will fight against any disrespect of its fundamental values, including secularism.

Labidi said the community is tired of feeling targeted for votes. “At the approach of each election, there are parties who choose slogans to attract the votes of populists,” he said. “But in the long term, it’s not good for our society, and it brings division.”

Labidi says many of the families of the victims are still members of the mosque community, such as the many children the six men left behind. He said the pain of the loss has never faded, adding that all of Quebec has a “duty to remember” the tragedy.

“We have to keep it alive so that no minority community has to go through what we went through.”

In a statement Wednesday, Trudeau called for an end to hate targeting Muslims in Canada. “They were murdered because of their faith,” Trudeau said of the victims.

“We stand in solidarity with Muslim communities in Canada and around the world to fight the hate that led to this attack. We are also not immune to its resurgence, especially as we see the rise in Islamophobia and hate across our communities,” he said.

Quebec Premier François Legault said on X the province was “shaken by a horrific tragedy” eight years ago. “In the days following the tragedy, thousands of Quebecers showed their solidarity.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 29, 2025.

The Canadian Press