Exactly a year ago, Yumnah Afzaal’s cousin took to the stage to share his memories of the young high school student. She was 15 when she was killed, along with her parents and grandmother, in a heinous and murderous act in London, Ontario in 2021. “It feels like yesterday and that I always felt the warmth of my family members with me,” Esa Islam told a crowd of London residents and dignitaries gathered for a vigil and a march in memory of the massacre.
“I miss being able to go to their house and have fun conversations about Harry Potter with Yumnah or being warmly welcomed by my aunt and uncle,” he continued. The young man will mark the tragedy for the second year in a row today alongside many others, including members of the Youth Coalition Combatting Islamophobia, an initiative supported by the City of London, community members and allies.
Instead of preparing for prom and graduation, this group of teens and young adults spent two years figuring out how best to commemorate the murder of this family hit by a truck driven by a man on a hot evening in June 2021. Among other things, they created impactful videos from their testimonies, as well as educational materials for teachers of students from kindergarten through high school.
As part of a first official visit last spring, I met Esa and his relatives, who are now caring for Yumnah’s little brother, who was orphaned following the attack. Family members expressed their hope that Islamophobia will be taken seriously as a phenomenon that undermines social cohesion and can even have deadly consequences in a democracy that has enshrined freedom of belief and equality in its constitution. .
They have a lot of work ahead of them, like many of us. A spring poll by Leger, on behalf of Maple Lodge Farms, found that less than 46% of Canadians consider themselves allies of Muslim communities. Another recent poll by Angus Reid showed that Islam is the most misunderstood religion in the country.
It is therefore not surprising that concerns persist. London’s Muslims evoke latent fears as they walk through their neighborhoods; children worry about the veil their mother or sister wears. Mosque officials continue to grapple with security issues, including one that relates to their limited funds when it comes to hiring security guards at community events.
The concerns expressed by them are neither new nor unusual. In the three main provinces where Muslims reside — Ontario, Quebec and Alberta — similar concerns have been expressed, but with nuances that reflect differences in geography, history and representation.
For example, in Edmonton, the group Sisters Dialogue explained that many black Muslim women are afraid to go out alone and still often travel in groups after a series of attacks over an eight-month period in 2020 and 2021, which have caused panic in these communities. Although police departments in the city and elsewhere continue to pledge their support, there is a regular lack of trust in law enforcement when it comes to taking meaningful action to hold perpetrators of violence responsible for their actions.
Some Calgary Muslims, however, acknowledged that the addition of several far-right groups to Canada’s list of terrorist entities has led to fewer threats. Community leaders continue to help foster partnerships to ensure their safety and that of other targeted minorities, as well as to promote education.
In London, they are working with the municipality, among other things, to implement an anti-Islamophobia strategy and to hire a liaison adviser with the Muslim community. Work is also underway to strengthen the Harassment on the Street Regulations, so that they incorporate protected identities as an additional ground for fining someone accused of harassment.
These concerns around safety, discrimination and inclusion underscore the fragility of our democracy and our sense of belonging, especially at a time of growing polarization and the pernicious effects of online hate and narratives that sow division.
As Yascha Mounk, political scientist and author, recently explained in the podcast titled On the Frontlines of Democracy, for a liberal society to remain prosperous and vibrant, people must be free to establish relationships of trust, even friendship, with one another while being able to proudly assume different identities. This can only happen if we collectively strive to fight Islamophobia and other forms of racism.
We will know that day has come when our young people no longer hold vigils in memory of their friends and family members whose lives were cut short by hate.