‘Alexandre remains our son’

A year after six Muslim men were killed in an attack on a Quebec City mosque, the parents of the man accused of their murders have broken their silence. What follows is a translation of the letter Manon Marchand and Raymond Bissonnette sent to Radio-Canada.

“The evening of Jan. 29, 2017, our lives were overturned, and since then we have the impression of living in a true nightmare.

The immense pain and suffering caused to the innocent victims and their families by this inexcusable act remains for us, to this day, totally inexplicable. So many lives were pointlessly destroyed.

Following the drama, we chose to remain silent to the media, expressing instead our condolences by personal letter directly to the victims and their families, a letter forwarded to them by the intervention of Mr. Mohamed Labidi, vice-chairman of the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec.

For us, too, pain and fear are present.

There have been serious threats made to Alexandre and to our family. Fortunately, the police have acted, but we still live in fear of a recurrence.

Alexandre remains our son whom we love and who will always remain a part of our family. Like all parents, we had the hoped to see him succeed and be happy in life. In a sense, we, too, have lost a son.

We were deeply touched by the courageous and unifying speech made by imam Hassan Guillet during the funerals. We would like to thank all of those who expressed their support — relatives, colleagues, friends, neighbours, even strangers. Their words and acts of comfort have given us courage and help us to carry on.”