In the southwest Canadian province of Ontario lies London, a metropolis known for its vibrant culture, beautiful parks, and Canada’s first UNESCO City of Music. It is also known as the city where, on June 6, 2021, four members of the Afzaal family died in an act of terrorism, an Anadolu report said yesterday.
The driver of a half-ton truck plowed into the family, wiping out two generations and leaving a nine-year-old boy orphaned.
A peaceful evening walk by the family was shattered when Nathaniel Veltman spotted them on the sidewalk, passed by, then made a U-turn and plowed into the unsuspecting family.
The Afzaal family – Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, their daughter Yumnah, 15, and Afzaal’s mother, Talat, 74. The boy was seriously injured but survived.
The Afzaal killings spawned an outpouring of grief in the Muslim community and at large as Canadians stared at the face of hate.
This year, as every year, people gathered to remember the family.
“What we’ve been hearing from communities here in London, where this tragedy occurred, is they are very hopeful,” Almira Elghawaby, Canada’s special representative on combating Islamophobia, told the London Free Press. “More and more people are interested in being allies to Canadian Muslims, understanding that hate hurts us all.”
Elghawaby was appointed in the aftermath of the Afzaal killings. But that was not the only measure taken after the felling of the Afzaals. The lawmakers in Ottawa formed Islamophobia on the Rise: Taking Action, Confronting Hate and Protecting Civil Liberties Together.
The end result was 15 recommendations, including denouncing Islamophobia, promoting cultural understanding, and fostering empathy towards Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities and providing adequate funding to run the programmes.
Several school boards implemented “strategies” to combat Islamophobia. The massive Peel District School Board, with more than 153,000 students, instituted anti-Islamophobia training for all board staff members.
The federal government also convened the National Summit on Islamophobia in July 2021, a month after the Afzaal tragedy.
Federal ministers, lawmakers and officials from provincial and municipal governments listened to the experiences of Muslims who had experienced vocal and sometimes physical attacks.
“More than any time in recent history, I have not witnessed this level of anxiety within the Canadian Muslim community. This is not of our choosing; we neither sought nor provoked this confrontation with hate,” Mohammed Hashim, executive director of the Canada Race and Relations, said.
And yet, despite all the measures to combat Islamophobia, hatred towards Muslims smoulders to this day.
