COMMUNITY RALLIES AROUND BULLIED FAMILY
WE’RE GOING TO SEND A MESSAGE THAT
HATE IS NOT WELCOME IN CANADA.
— MOHAMAD FAKIH
Dorothy Marston, 81, was using her walker to slowly cross the street, bound for a Maxime Bernier event in Hamilton on Sept. 29.
Though there was vigorous protest against the People’s Party of Canada that day, decrying nativist bigotry, this particular scene — an old lady using a crosswalk — hardly seemed the flashpoint.
What happened next, however, would summon a social media vendetta, with death threats and targeted harassment. It would force a family of restaurant owners to abandon their business in fear. But then it would also inspire massive goodwill, and prompt a large corporate intervention to save the day.
But back then it was just the elderly lady against three masked protesters blocking her progress, with one masked woman yelling “Nazi scum, off our streets!”
Beside her stood a man, slouching with his hands in his pockets, with a balaclava over his head and an orange T-shirt that said Every Child Matters over his belly. A guy in khakis casually took video with his phone.
Then, just as abruptly as it began, this bizarre little standoff ended when the protest moved along. The shouter bolted when she got a tap on her shoulder, and orange shirt slunk along behind.
But the image of the little old lady being abused by protesters caught fire. The man in the orange shirt — whose photo was also taken without his balaclava — was soon identified on Twitter as Alaa Al-Soufi, whose parents run Soufi’s, a small Syrian restaurant on Toronto’s Queen Street West.
Now, after briefly closing in response to threats and hate messages, Soufi’s is to reopen with great fanfare Friday morning under the temporary management of a large international restaurant chain.
Mohamad Fakih, chief executive of the Paramount Middle Eastern Kitchen chain, told a press conference at Soufi’s Thursday morning that two of his managers would be dispatched to keep the business going. All staff, some of whom are refugees, will be rehired. And all profit and ownership will remain with the Al-Soufi family, which announced the closure earlier this week.
“We do not wish to set a tragic example for future immigrants and refugee business owners as the business that gave in to hate,” said Husam Al-Soufi, who owns the flatbread spot in the trendy shopping district.
Alaa’s identification, and his association with a business run by his Syrian immigrant family, inspired the co-ordinated campaign of harassment, which expressed both direct threats and conspiracy theories about terrorist sympathizers among Syrian refugees. This was boosted on social media by major figures of the American political right wing, including Ann Coulter.
Those threats, by phone and email, escalated to physical violence on Sunday, according to the family, when Alaa was assaulted. On Tuesday, a sign went up announcing the permanent closure of the restaurant.
But news of the racist harassment prompted expressions of support, including many letters posted on the business door or window, which Al-Soufi said he intends to display permanently inside.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted the image of the closure letter, saying: “Hatred and threats of violence have no place in Canada. We are always stronger together than when we’re divided.”
Fakih, who has had his own encounters with the worst elements of the racist far right when he recently sued an anti-Islam blogger and won a $2.5-million defamation judgment, told the press conference he intervened to help the Al-Soufis because he understands the pain of intimidation, and he believes that if Canadians give in to hatred, “we will lose ourselves.”
“I knew what that felt like,” he said. He said people who come to Canada to open a business and contribute to the economy should never be treated this way. “I wanted them to feel that they are not alone in this.”
The Al-Soufis immigrated from Damascus, Syria, going first to Saudi Arabia where they ran a resort, then coming to Canada when their daughter began her education at the University of Toronto. Soufi’s on Queen Street has been open since 2017, selling coffee, tea and pastries along with their signature flatbreads, topped with spice, meat, or cheese.
Two Paramount managers will be assigned to Soufi’s to keep it operating, Fakih said. For his much larger business Paramount, co-ordinating a few weeks of deliveries and the operation of a little Queen West storefront is “easy,” he said. All Soufi’s staff will be rehired and employed in the work the Al-Soufis trained them to do. Fakih said he hopes not to need security. “If we need it, we will do it.”
Fakih called Soufi’s a “thriving, celebrated business run by two incredible friends …. Toronto, I’m begging you, please let’s support this family.”
“We’re going to send a message that hate is not welcome in Canada,” Fakih said. The success of Soufi’s will be a “reflection of how welcoming we are as a society.”
Husam Al-Soufi said he and his family will stay away from the business “until our family feels healthy and safe.”
He said what his son did was a “mistake,” but when he was pressed by a reporter about whether he would make him stop, he said his son is a man, not a child.
“He doesn’t need discouragement now. He learned this the hard way,” Al-Soufi said.
Al-Soufi said he spoke with David Turkoski, son of Dorothy Marston, whom he praised for his kindness. He said he hopes to visit the Marston family to offer an apology, and to welcome them to his restaurant for a meal.
“I pray that this will happen,” Al-Soufi said.