Vigil honours Christchurch victims
Members of all faiths gather to denounce racism, intolerance
Five prayer mats were laid out in front of Regina City Hall on Thursday, all pointing in the same direction — toward Mecca.
On them sat 50 candles, each one symbolizing one worshipper gunned down in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15.
Munir Haque, president of the Islamic Association’s Regina chapter, said those worshippers would have been facing that way on that fateful day, moments before they lost their lives in a massacre.
“Like you, I don’t want to be here. I really, really don’t want to be here,” he said at a Regina vigil just after 6 p.m. Thursday.
“There are too many vigils. There are too many acts of hatred.”
Hundreds of people came to call for understanding and an end to hatred. They came wearing baseball hats, police caps, yarmulkes, turbans and hijabs. Mayor Michael Fougere said it was encouraging to see “so many people from so many backgrounds and so many faiths.”
He called the murders a “senseless act of violence” committed by “a despicable person of unspeakable evil.”
Regina Police Service Chief Evan Bray said he believes racism is built on ignorance. Supporters of the Justice from Our Stolen Children camp were also standing before city hall, warning the same ignorance is present in Saskatchewan.
It was a week where the tragedy sparked fiery debate in the Saskatchewan legislative assembly over an alleged link to yellow vest rallies in the province.
But local MLAS from both parties shook hands before listening to the first words of the Quran, read in Arabic by a local imam.
Mark Docherty, Speaker of the legislative assembly, said the vigil was a chance for everyone to unite and stand up against Islamophobia.
“I want to show support for the Muslim community,” he said. “I was horrified by the act of terrorism in New Zealand and it’s become all too familiar, not only in New Zealand, but in Canada and around the world.”
Fougere said it’s vital for Reginans to take every opportunity to show their Muslim neighbours they’re welcome in the city.
“I want our brothers and sisters to know that they’re safe here, that we love them, we want them to be here,” said Fougere.
“We all have a choice that we can make, to reach out to those who feel vulnerable, to make them feel safe.”