Quebec confronts painful reminder

• A little more than two years after their own community came under attack, Muslims in Quebec City said they were in shock over the mass shootings at two New Zealand mosques.

Their horror was echoed by members of other Muslim communities across the country as they offered condolences to the grieving families and spoke out against extremism.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned as “absolutely appalling” the attack on worshippers attending Friday prayers in Christchurch.

“Hate has no place anywhere,” Trudeau said in a statement. “We must all confront Islamophobia and work to create a world in which all people — no matter their faith, where they live, or where they were born — can feel safe and secure.”

Boufeldja Benabdallah, the head of the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre, said a feeling of “indescribable pain” was apparent in his own community. He extended condolences to the New Zealand victims and expressed concern for families in Quebec City being forced to relive the Jan. 29, 2017, attack that left six men dead.

“I’m convinced they are feeling a terrible pain. Imagine the children of those families here in Quebec who are hearing it on the radio and will watch their mothers cry and ask, ‘Why are you crying?’ ” Benabdallah said.

“The mothers will remember the 29th, when they ran to get husbands who were killed by Alexandre Bissonnette.”

Benabdallah added that amid the mourning, it is time for people to speak out against extremism and for lawmakers to legislate against it.

“We must get back to work once again to explain, to tell these extremists of all stripes who politicize religion, like extremists who use race as a basis for discrimination, that we must change,” Benabdallah said. “The world cannot continue like this.”

Police in many cities across the country said they stepped up patrols around places of worship on Friday and spoke with local Muslim communities about their security concerns.

Rabia Khedr, executive director of the Muslim Council of Peel, said the early news about Christchurch immediately brought to mind the Quebec City shooting.

“I didn’t sleep all night,” Khedr said. “I cannot believe the number of people that have been killed, the number of people that have been injured.”

She said an attack on Muslims in a western nation hits harder. “When it hits a Muslim majority country we feel sad, we feel sorrow. However, that feeling is a little different in a western democracy where we are minorities. Because it’s pure and utter hatred. It’s Islamophobia in its ugliest form.”

T he Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, based in Calgary, said: “This is nothing but terrorism against Muslims. This is nothing but hate against Muslims. This is nothing but Islamophobia.”