Prayer meeting bridges religious, cultural divides
Emotional ceremony pays tribute to victims of mosque shooting one year ago
Religion has divided Quebecers in the past, but it brought people together Sunday night at an interfaith prayer meeting to commemorate the six men killed in last year’s attack on a Quebec City mosque.
There were Muslim prayers, a First Nations poem, a Jewish chant, a song by a Catholic bishop and a canticle by an Anglican quartet.
The emotions transcended religious and cultural boundaries in the moving ceremony, which opened with testimonies by families and friends of the six victims.
Bertrand Cloutier, 65, a retired high-school religion teacher, was among more than 1,000 people who took part in the event in an arena next to the Centre Vidéotron.
Quebec City Mayor Régis Labeaume and Quebec Lieutenant General Michel Doyon also attended the evening.
The event was hosted by local radio announcer Ève-Marie Lortie and Khadija Saïd, an active volunteer in Quebec City’s Muslim community.
“First of all, I’m here as a human being,” Cloutier said.
“I’m here out of compassion for the human beings who were attacked for totally unjust reasons,” he added.
“Responsible people should build bridges: they don’t put up barriers,” added Cloutier, a Catholic who believes it’s important to reach out to people of different faiths and cultures.
Megda Belkacemi, 28, the daughter of Université Laval professor Khaled Belkacemi, 60, a casualty of the Jan. 29 shooting, said her father always encouraged his three children to be authentic and do their very best to attain their dreams.
“My father left me an invaluable heritage,” she said.
It was an irony of fate that her father, who chose to immigrate to Canada from Algeria because it was a country of peace, died in a violent attack, she said.
“Papa, we are so proud to be your children,” she said.
The groundswell of support that arose in the days and weeks after the tragedy demonstrates “how we can combat hatred,” Belkacemi said, calling for people of different cultural backgrounds to reach out to each other so tragedies from the 1989 Polytechnique massacre to the mosque shooting never happen again.
“Every victim of hatred is one victim too many,” she said.
Aissatou Baldé, a niece of Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, who died in the attack, paid tribute to the supportive uncle who always encouraged her to study.
“Rest in peace, dear uncle,” she said.
Hanafi Kioul, a friend of victim Abdelkrim Hassane, 41, described him as a model citizen who was a perfect example of someone who had integrated into Quebec society.
“We will never forget your sense of humour,” he said. “We miss you and we will always miss you.”
Rachid Ben Amor described his late friend Azzeddine Soufiane, 57, as “an exemplary citizen” who ran a grocery store and was always ready to listen and lend a helping hand.
“His greatest desire, if he were still alive, would be to see Quebec’s diverse communities living together in mutual respect,” he said.
Konrad Sioui, grand chief of the Huron-Wendat Wendake reserve, stressed the need for brotherhood while Innu writer Marie Émilie Lacroix read a poem on water.
“We are all a drop of water in the river,” she said in an interview beforehand.
“Why do we talk about our differences? It’s just because we haven’t gotten to know each other. Prejudices are usually lies,” said Lacroix, who has maintained close ties to Quebec City ’s Muslim community for several years.
Réjean Bouchard and Tracey Martin attended to “show our support to the community that was affected,” said Bouchard, 55, who works for Desjardins Group and volunteers at the Centre multi-ethnique de Québec, which helps welcome new immigrants.
“We wanted to put our sorrow into action,” he said.
Martin, 52, a teacher, said the father of one of the children in her Grade 4 class was killed in the attack.
The prayer service was part of four days of commemorative events that will culminate in a vigil Monday near the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, where the public will have the opportunity to lay flowers, candles and words of comfort.
It followed several weekend events marking the first anniversary of the shooting, including a conference on bridging cultural differences, a documentary screening and a public appearance by widows of the victims.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard are to attend Monday’s official commemoration event on the one-year anniversary of the shootings.
His greatest desire, if he were still alive, would be to see Quebec’s diverse communities living together in mutual respect.