It is the bitter end of a painful legal saga for the Muslims of Quebec. Disappointed, but resigned, the community now prefers to turn over a painful page of its past to better cultivate the future.
The Supreme Court has ruled: the shooter who mowed down six faithful and left 17 orphans in his wake will have the right to aspire to his freedom in 2042. Alexandre Bissonnette will then have served 25 years in prison and, at age 52, spent almost the half of his life behind bars.
The co-founder of the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec, Boufedlja Benabdallah, hoped for another outcome, an end that would at the very least spare grieving families the fear of meeting, in two decades, the executioner of their father, their husband or their brother. Instead, the highest court in the land has ruled that any killer, no matter how atrocious their crime, has a right to hope for redemption.
“We accept because we have no other recourse, reacted Friday Mr. Benabdallah. If we have one recourse left, it is to turn the page.
The chapter that is concluding will long retain a bittersweet taste for the small community. Since January 29, 2017, the history of the Muslims of Quebec has been written with a strange ink, composed of the blood shed by the victims, the gall spilled by a xenophobic mob that is unleashed at each public appearance of the community, but also by the tears that a multitude of Quebecers mingled with his in solidarity.
This compassion for their pain put “balm on the wound”, says Mr. Benabdallah. At the same time, the last five years have also seen a surge of insensitive, even hostile comments on certain microphones and on social networks.
“There are still people who send us hateful messages,” sighs the president of the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec, Mohamed Labidi, who himself lost his vehicle in a fire in the months following the attack. [Mais] we really feel that there is a change, a change towards the positive. And that is crucial. For us, but also for the families of the victims.”
The latter have the feeling that the death of the missing now irrigates a more harmonious and more caring society, believes Mr. Labidi. “Their blood did not go anywhere, but to a cause that will improve the general condition of society.”
The Muslim community has also “made the effort to get closer to Quebecers,” continues Mr. Benabdallah.
“If it wasn’t for people’s compassion, it would have been terrible, we would have felt an unbearable loneliness. Throughout these five years, people have come closer to us and we too have made the effort to reach out to them”, greeted the man, who in the tragedy became one of the most famous faces of Muslims. of the capital.
Aspire to normality
The press conference convened by representatives of the Islamic Cultural Center on Friday took place in the prayer hall of the Grand Mosque, the very spot where the gunman burst in 1944 days ago to open fire on the men and children in panic come to pray.
Since this January evening, the places have changed: the mosque welcomes its faithful in a completely renovated setting, brighter and more imposing than before. On Friday, a few kneeling men communed with their god in silence. The tranquility of the place foreshadowed a community now at peace with the violence that has scarred its recent past.
Outside, however, cameras, locks and an alarm system now fortify the building. On Friday, two police officers were even patrolling the mosque compound. The organizers of the press conference had asked for their presence: for five years, each jolt in the trial of Alexandre Bissonnette revives fears of reprisals.
“I too, as an individual, want to turn the page,” says Boufeldja Benabdallah. I’ve been hurt enough, I’ve cried enough… It’s time to say: it’s over.