Winnipeg vigil show of support, solidarity for Muslim community

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This article was published 10/06/2021 (1294 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As Idris Elbakri was waving goodbye to the 300-plus vehicles that had gathered around the Winnipeg Grand Mosque to mourn the four Muslims killed in London, Ont., earlier this week, one car came to a halt in front of him.

A small gift — tobacco, often used in Indigenous cultures as a sacred offering to show respect or to open communication — was passed from the person in the vehicle to Elbakri, who had organized the Thursday vigil through his role as chairman of the Manitoba Islamic Association.

Elbakri was moved beyond words.

“He just extended that offer of tobacco to me, which I’m not sure if I’m worthy of, but I came home and I showed my family, and I’ll cherish and keep it,” he said Friday.

He tied the tobacco with ribbons that were handed out at the vigil: yellow, in remembrance of the 2017 Quebec mosque shooting, and purple, the favourite colour of the 15-year-old girl who was mowed down along with her parents, brother and grandmother Sunday evening in Ontario.

On Thursday evening, vehicles stretched out beyond the south Winnipeg parking lot and into the surrounding grass field — typically used for big festivities, such as the yearly Eid celebration — and speeches from community members called for kindness, solidarity and action against racism.

Leen Aljindi, 17, who wears a hijab, said she has Muslim friends who also wear hijabs that have been spit on, verbally harassed and physically attacked.

“I’ve become hesitant to call myself Canadian and proud, because our Canada is a place of racism,” she told the crowd Thursday. “Every country has it flaws, we always hear and assume how amazing and inclusive Canada is, however, whether it’s Islamophobia or any form of racism, it surrounds us.”

While there were a large number of Muslim community members present — many of which Elbakri was seeing in person for the first time in more than a year, a “bittersweet” feeling — he wasn’t surprised, saying the tragedy had struck a nerve in the city and beyond.

“I think it just reinforced what I already knew,” Elbakri said of the notion of standing together in solidarity in the face of racism.

It’s not enough to come to a vigil or offer platitudes, or to place the blame solely on an earlier generation, Elbakri said (the alleged killer is 20 years old).

“We need to collectively go beyond thoughts and prayers and condemnation to concrete action, and that doesn’t just mean government,” he said.

The Manitoba Islamic Association has held regular virtual community check-ins since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and plans to host one on Islamophobia in Winnipeg in the near future.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: malakabas_