Calls to action at vigil held for London, Ont. family killed in anti-Muslim attack | FULL

this is a live look from london ontario where a large group is gathering at the london muslim mosque to honor the members of a family killed in an indescribable act and to show support for the surviving nine-year-old boy all of them paying respect to the ufsall family global news has received permission from loved ones to show you this photograph in it a father 46 year old solomon upsall a mother 44 year old madiha zalman and a daughter 15 year old yamna afsal as well as her 74 year old grandmother all ripped from the world by a horrendous act of violence the sole survivor nine-year-old faisal afsal now left to go on without them good evening and thank you for joining us i'm tracy tong and i'm miranda anthesel there are waves of grief across the country tonight after family was murdered while out for an evening walk together and a vigil for the upsell family is just about to get underway our camille caramali has been in london since yesterday afternoon and he joins us now to talk about what has been happening here camille it has been an emotional 48 hours how are people there feeling as they're starting to gather for this vigil well obviously tracy as you can imagine it's a very very somber mood here as they remember the four victims of this tragedy that took place sunday night but if there can be any silver lining to this it's the turnout and the love that is pouring out of these hundreds of people that have been here since the early afternoon hours and now it's easily racked up to hundreds of people waiting outside of this mosque for uh federal leaders we know justin trudeau jug meets singh aaron o'toole they'll all be here we're still waiting for those politicians to arrive but we also hear religious leaders from different parts of the province will also be here in attendance but it's not just the leaders of the communities and politicians that are going to be here there are people who knew the family we spoke to so many of them you know what we're hearing is that this family was really a staple in the community and and really that the the father figure uh uh salman afzal uh he was a very generous man from what we're hearing from friends and family and community members he he really gave back to the community and so this is really a community coming together to mourn the loss of people that were really really loved in this muslim community here in london and camille you know so many people are dealing with the loss of this family but thoughts are of course with the nine-year-old boy who is still in hospital many people wondering how this child can even take news like this that he's lost an entire family i know you've been speaking with a family spokesperson what have they told you about how the boy is doing and how they are coping well luckily the boy is doing as well as can be given these circumstances as we know he is expected to survive but there are very very dark days ahead for this boy as you can imagine you know we did interview somebody this woman one of the first people who saw the aftermath of the attack she said she saw the bodies on and along the street and uh this is before paramedics arrived she approached she pulled her vehicle over and approached the nine-year-old boy and uh all he was doing was asking about his family asking about his mother if they're okay so uh to have lost them at such a young age as you can imagine just absolutely heartbreaking and everyone's hearts are with this boy at this point we know that the go fund me pages and the fundraising pages have reached over 1.25 million dollars that's just the sort of support and and love this community feels for the boy um as for how else the family is doing the extended family we've we've heard that they're devastated they're they're a very private family from what we've heard and all of this attention is in some cases a little overwhelming so they will not be attending tonight tracy and miranda from what we've been told in fact what will happen is that representatives from the family not the direct family members will be present here and they will be saying some words but once again a very private family they don't like the spotlight and they're just trying to find some time to grieve and and find answers to the question how could this have happened you know camille this has been such a horrific moment for the pakistani muslim community you yourself are part of that community and this must hit you in such a personal way how have you been doing covering all of this yeah what lie it's it's really a punch to the gut you know it's not just me but everyone can relate to what this extended family is going through you know i see my own family in the faces of these victims one of them even the mom looks a lot like my aunt so it's really tough to distance yourself from something like this and and you know being a pakistani muslim myself we my family members they do exactly what this family were doing they go out for walks usually after dinner sometimes in traditional clothing and so really thinking about them in relation to this attack and you know so many members of the muslim community here have said this and i'll just echo it again it could have happened to any one of us it just feels that way so a very difficult time for this community and anyone who felt that connection to them being pakistani muslim or even just being from london in the way that you are sharing the way that you relate to all of this in the last couple of days we've seen so many people come together and share stories band together what have you seen within the muslim community well there's been a lot of love there's been a lot of imams speaking up we're hearing that this this vigil is getting started but there's been a lot of giving back and support of this community you know that's one of the beautiful things about this muslim community that they're all here to support each other and we've heard from the family spokespeople as well as many people here behind me as you can hear the applause you can hear the vigil getting started there's a lot of support here and that support is only expected to grow especially around this nine-year-old boy who definitely needs it right now well thank you so much for sharing all of that camilla and for your hard work covering the story that's our camille carmali from london and as camille mentioned there has been an outpouring of support for the surviving nine-year-old boy faiz who is grappling with the loss of his mother father sister and grandmother there are currently two family approved fundraisers and donations are pouring in by the minute they have now raised well over 1.1 million dollars and that number is growing by each second if you'd like to help this little boy you can head to globalnews.ca toronto where you can find the links to both of these fundraising pages well prime minister justin trudeau is urging canadians to do more to stamp out the racism that police say motivated the attack but as our chief political correspondent david aiken explains it's hard to ignore the party politics surrounding the tragedy leader sang was angry and i think about what that means when people say this is not our canada the reality is this is our canada this is our canada you should cut your turbine off sing a sikh canadian has been the target himself of racist and sometimes violent attacks we don't want to be intimidated by hate often by those who confuse him for a muslim he had this called to action we need to tackle online hate it is a real thing online hate is radicalizing people online hate is spreading messages that teach people to hate the prime minister is ready to move as leaders and as canadians we not only have to say enough is enough we must take action the prime minister noted his government has already boosted funding for anti-racism programs and will provide more security infrastructure money for mosques and other places of worship and he promised to do more this is happening here in canada and it has to stop the opposition leader aaron o'toole turned his thoughts to the attack's lone survivor nine-year-old faiz upsil because there's a nine-year-old boy lying in a hospital bed we have to strive to learn and be better the canada of his future needs to be better than the canada of sunday evening david aiken global news ottawa all right let's go back to the london muslim mosque now where the vigil is about to get underway in a couple of minutes time and it would appear that hundreds if not thousands of people are attending the vigil that's right we did just hear an announcement minutes ago that the vigil should start in about 10 minutes or within that time but again as miranda just mentioned you are looking at a shot there of hundreds of people that have gathered outside of this mosque to pay their respects ontario's premier doug ford says covet 19 restrictions are temporarily eased so that people could attend tonight now ford himself he will be in attendance so will prime minister justin trudeau conservative party leader aaron o'toole ndp leader jagmeet singh block leader eve francois blanchette and green party leader enemy paul they are all banding together at this time to show their support as well and as you can see there the crowd wearing masks not distancing but again premier doug ford had said that restrictions would be eased for this event and miranda you know a lot of those people in that community have been confused they've been angry they have been in grief ever since the incident and then the police announcement later that they believe that this was an act of hate what have you heard from and what have we heard really from community members over the last while well it's interesting i think a lot a lot of community members who are not part of the muslim community have said this is the unthinkable but what i've seen and what i've heard from muslim community members across canada is that this is something that they have lived with a fear that they've lived with for a long time that something like this could happen and now that it has all their worst fears have been confirmed and realized so i think for the muslim community yes it's absolutely tragic but it's something that they're not totally shocked by which is you know sad in and of itself to say that and those emotions are being felt deeply by those in london ontario and beyond the loss of three generations of one family something so many are struggling to comprehend tonight we hear from the community as they contend with this nightmare it just hit so close to home because it could have been my parents it could have been my family [Music] we face discriminations ourselves so we come to this country and you know and we just expect more from canadians hate doesn't belong here we have an innocent nine years old what do you tell him after he comes out what do you tell why is his family the only family he knows things like this shouldn't happen people should be able to walk freely people should be able to talk freely this is close to home it was physically close to home they don't look very different than my parents to tell them you know you need to be careful walking around you you don't know if this is the first of many and you really want to you know make sure that you're together and you may not dress in a way that that's going to pick out your appearance the daughter she's two and i would love for her to grow up in a country that has the diversity that respected here and we're blessed to raise her here does give me pause about what her life is going to look like in in 10 or 20 years tired of staying quiet people just saying i'm sorry and i think we all have to come out and show how we feel it's just the feeling of hopelessness that how can this happen it's not okay we have to start including people not just tolerating them and again that vigil is just getting underway it is supposed to start in just minutes let's take you back there right now where hundreds of people have gathered outside the london muslim mosque and this is to honor the lives of the ufsell family we have seen a couple of gofundme pages spring up over the last bit and family friends who have sent out and honored these family vic family members rather in very very nice ways they have described mr salman afzell who is 46 years old he was a physiotherapist and a beloved member of the london community whether at his local cricket matches or at the masjid and the first thing that you would see is his gentle and welcoming smile we also know that his wife mrs madia salman who was 44 she was in the process of working towards finishing her exams to obtain her phd at western university in civil engineering she was a brilliant scholar and a caring mother and friend they also had a 15 year old daughter her name was yamna salman and she was just finishing up her grade 9 year at oak ridge secondary school and of course with them on that deadly walk was their 74 year old grandmother the mother of mr afsel and she was described as a pillar of their family she cherished their daily walks and miranda we of course know that there was a fifth person on this walk that is a nine-year-old boy named faiz salman and he is going to have real hurdles ahead of him he is in hospital still but at least he has this community surrounding him at this time i think he is in everyone's thoughts right now this little boy just nine years old to have experienced that gone through that and then coming out of it not having his immediate family members around him so yes like you said the community is rallying the greater community as we can see here just attending this vigil alone there's been an outpouring of support camille spoke about that as well so he will have support from his community but of course nothing can replace his family and we know it's not just community members and other people who will be at the vigil attending that this evening we mentioned before all federal party leaders will be in attendance that includes the prime minister justin trudeau and we don't know if they will be speaking just yet if they will be allowing community members to speak and just be holding back we'll have to wait and see but we know in terms of this attack and this year that it's fallen in 2021 it comes just a little over four years since the quebec mosque attack back in 2017 that was a horrific attack that shook the muslim community that shook really the canadian community and back then in 2017 there was actually a motion put forward where the house of commons voted on eradicating any islamophobia and the bill was to expose hate that targeted muslims the catalyst for it of course as mentioned was the 2017 mosque shooting in quebec city which left six people dead eight others injured now in the private member's motion the federal government was asked to condemn islamophobia and have the commons heritage committee actually develop a government-wide approach to eradicating systemic racism including islamophobia from that actually came the creation of a national action plan to address islamophobia which included improving data collection on hate crimes as well as the development of new education and training programs how much of a change that has made you know some people would say after this incident not enough is being done so i think a lot of people want to hear from the leaders from the politicians from community leaders as well what concrete action can be taken if any can be taken to stop things like this from happening and we have heard you know many community members come out and say whenever there is an incident like this a large mass killing or an act of hate that is just that is just ground shaking for the entire country that we see these politicians come out and say the words and go through the motions but what real change is actually implemented and then followed up with down the road well that remains to be seen but this perception that canada is a welcoming tolerant place for all people of all backgrounds and faiths is one we want to believe and in many cases this is the reality but in others there is a darkness lurking an anti-muslim hate and racism exists and it thrives online and as eric sorensen reports there is evidence that it is growing i'm lost this londoner doesn't even know what to say to his son who's watching this horrible story on the news so he's listening to all these these new words about hate crime islamophobia it is a reality muslim canadians confront and other canadians often ignore a level of hate increasingly towards muslims it is so distressing for those who believed they were welcomed in this country every so often there's just it bob's this ugly head that okay hey we're still here you're not wanted there has been a steady increase in police-reported hate crimes in canada from fewer than 1200 in 2013 to more than 1900 in 2019. the number of hate crimes motivated just by religion overall actually fell 7 in 2019 the most recent year from statistics canada but hate crimes against the muslim population rose 9 that same year this researcher says some hate groups can stoke fear of muslims that can lead to violence and some individuals may not even join a group individuals consuming you know what they are finding on some of these white supremacists islamophobic neo-nazi sites and that is informing their own view of the world london like canada is home to a growing muslim population hate crimes here are above the national average as they are in several major cities but some academics say canadians must recognize a dark side to their image as a welcoming country there is a virulent strain of anti-immigrant anti-muslim sentiment in canada and unfortunately not all of the political class is willing to accept that and deal with it accordingly advocates say anti-muslim hatred has to bring more than just condemnation we don't need just to tackle white supremacy but we also need to you know prosecute the perpetrators but also the people that are inciting this hatred and this fair you know online and elsewhere in communities the rate of hate crimes appears unlikely to drop until hate itself is addressed more directly eric sorensen global news toronto and here we have a live shot of ndp leader jugmeet singh at the vigil he has been shaking hands with attendees right now appearing to have a ribbon pinned onto his lapel there and talking with community members we do know that he has been outspoken outspoken miranda about this and today he had an emotional appeal emotional message for canadians a message where he said that he hoped that that canada wasn't like this but um this is just an example of how much hate we can see in this country and you can oh and there is prime minister justin trudeau just behind ndp leader judgment singh you can see him hugging the mayor of london there so he's arrived just seconds behind jug meat but just to continue on from what we were saying about about mr sang he was visibly shaken today you could see he was very upset and we know that he has encountered anti-muslim rhetoric and hate towards himself even though he is sick people have thought that he is muslim so he's encountered that hate and he has actually said you know in the houses of common today he said you need to tackle what we need to do is tackle online hate saying it is a real thing online hate is radicalizing people online hate is spreading messages that teach people to then in turn hate so that is perhaps one thing that they'll be looking at addressing that again whether or not jugmeat or prime minister will be speaking at this vigil is yet to be seen they might let the community take over and have those words and not take the spotlight off of them that's right and again in the last few moments there's ndp leader judgment singh speaking with people there at the vigil as you can see a lot of cell phones have been brought out to take videos and photos because the prime minister has also arrived now we are expecting the other federal party leaders to arrive at any point now and that is conservative leader aaron o'toole as well as green party leader annemie paul and there's a wide shot of what's happening outside the london muslim mosque right now where people are standing around waiting hundreds of them again remember that there are coven 19 restrictions in place but premier doug ford who is also going to be attending had made a point of saying that those restrictions would be lifted or loosened for this event knowing how much it meant to the community knowing you know miranda how many muslims have been in fear over the last bit and that this was important to show that the community is behind them and banding together with them so that they don't feel alone during a time during a pandemic that can make one feel very alone yeah and that's what he said he said this is a time for people to be able to grieve and grieve properly so allowing them to do so in this manner is a way of the ontario government saying we stand behind you we stand behind the muslim community we want to allow you to go through this process a difficult process enough but then to be able to not hug your community members to to get up close to them they're at least allowing them to do to do this and we know that most people have had their first dose of the vaccine um social distancing measures as we can see here have been you know sort of they've eased up on that and you can even see the prime minister and jug meat sing ndp leader judgment sing there getting up close with the crowd shaking hands and showing that they're in solidarity with the muslim community and we talked about the politicians that are there right now but also former pc party candidate jeff bennett spoke up today about the racism he noticed when he knocked on doors in london west in 2014. in a facebook post he expressed outrage saying i knocked on thousands of doors in the very neighborhood this atrocity occurred this terrorist may have been alone in that truck on that day but he was not acting alone he was raised in a racist city that pretends it isn't and miranda those words very strong how do you think people have reacted to that i mean on the one hand we do have people admitting that there is racism but he goes out and points that it is a racist city that's right so i read the entire facebook post it's been shared hundreds of times and a lot of people are applauding him saying thank you for speaking your truth and saying what maybe a lot of people didn't understand or didn't realize and what a lot of other people did find to be true so he said on his facebook page a lot more and it was a very powerful statement he said when he went door knocking this was back as we mentioned in 2014 when he was a pc candidate for the same riding where this attack took place he said he has been in that riding shaking hands knocking on doors and so many times he's he's a white man he's a caucasian man he would knock on people's doors and he said they would express relief over seeing him at the door saying oh finally someone i can vote for this is what mr bennett said on his facebook post and he said he would see lots of subtle racist remarks lots of overt racist remarks and he never did anything in the moment to address those or to condemn them but he says now you know after seeing what has taken place in the writing that he was a candidate for he says he no longer wants to do that he needs to step up and have his part in it so a lot of different politicians community leaders speaking out about this and we know that the federal party leaders have expressed absolute horror over what has gone on in london ontario and the attack and you do have to wonder you know how much of this has been overlooked and how much of it is a wake-up call over the last 48 hours or so and you're right about that the federal party leaders they have expressed horror over what happened they reflected on the tragedy in the house of commons earlier today take a listen if anyone thinks racism and hatred don't exist in this country i ask to them this how do we explain such violence to that child in hospital because there's a nine-year-old boy lying in a hospital bed we have to strive to learn and be better i feel your pain i understand your pain and we are going to work towards making sure that you do not have to live in fear that you do not have to walk the streets in fear we are going to fight for you and we are going to take you back to the london muslim mosque now where the vigil is about to get underway you see premier doug ford there entering arriving he appears to be bending down possibly to lay flowers as we saw the prime minister do just moments ago but he's there in the thick of that crowd now arriving just moments ago he is joining again the prime minister and ndp leader jagmeet singh and we are expecting the other federal party leaders to arrive any moment now as well and this shot here you can see the prime minister justin trudeau along with london's mayor and then in the background ontario premier doug ford they're shaking hands talking i don't know the last time they would have seen each other in person tracy due to the pandemic restrictions and we'll see where they're sitting here looks like they're sitting at opposite ends of the row there you are in the background as well and you are seeing them do the elbow tap as opposed to the the handshake there because of covet 19. again those restrictions lifted which is why such a large gathering is allowed to take place here in this location alone but restrictions are still in place across the province at this time and as you can see everyone's wearing their mask and there is security at the barrier there so it looks like they do have seats set up five or six rows right in front of the doors front doors of the mosque and then the crowds of people who want to come pay their respects and honor the family are then standing behind the barricade there but absolutely incredible to see there's hundreds of people there we'll get the final tally towards the end of the night i'm sure but again community members community leaders all the federal party leaders we don't know exactly the program how it's going to go just yet but we know that the first speaker has taken to the podium and the vigil is about to begin let's listen begin today's evening for today's program with an acknowledgment that the land on which we gather is the traditional land of the ottawanderin anishinabek and this acknowledgement is made especially relevant given the fresh grief that our indigenous brothers and sisters are feeling [Applause] we would like to thank you all for joining us this evening to commemorate the horrific incident that took place on sunday my name is nuseba alazam i'm a native londoner and second vice chair of the london muslim mosque i grew up here i went to school here i got my degrees here i now practice as a lawyer here i've walked that trail that our london family walked on sunday and never got to finish and just like many of my friends and family have expressed to each other and on social media it's not a matter that it could have been me it was one of us an lmm an lis family a thames valley family a western university family just taking a stroll on a beautiful summer day like today the family had initially asked for privacy as they were absorbing the shock and grief of what has occurred but they have given us permission to share a few details about our london family today so it's with sadness that i share that we as a community have lost salman afzal madiha of sal yumna salman and yumna's grandmother they unfortunately joined the number of souls we have already lost to islamophobia in canada including those murdered in the quebec mosque shooting ibrahimovic tanuberi khalid balkasami abubakar sabti abdul karim hassan and azidine sufyan and from imo just last year muhammad aslim these families have all been the target of horrific violence and here in london we mourn for the salman family and we grieve for the upended life of a nine-year-old orphan families across the city are having difficult conversations with their children and loved ones right now trying to explain away this venom to their children i know my niece my nieces my nephews my extended family have shared their worries to their parents that mama do i look too muslim or am i okay we are all victims of perverse islamophobia or pervasive and perverse islamophobia in our society and we all pay a price for that hatred to that end please please please please please take notice of the mental health resources that are available to us they're provided on this poster and there's many of them at the nasiha is my understanding the london muslim mosque will also be blasting this on our social media nccm will be blasting it please please please take advantage of these resources make use of them today tomorrow and as we carry on this is a traumatic event for our community and it's important to ensure that we're looking after our mental well-being and the mosque will be organizing community mental health check-ins in the the days to come so details will follow on that i also want to highlight to you you'll notice that there are people with purple and green ribbons there are people wearing them and there are people distributing among people in the audience today purple was yumna's favorite color and green symbolizes the fight against the scrounge of islamophobia an ode to the green square that we all wore after the quebec mosque shooting when we swore that this would never happen again so we are inviting family and friends of the deceased the brave first responders including jenny carp sean and miranda campbell and fire station 6 and 14 platoon a among others unnamed some of whom are here with us today who tried to administer life-saving measures we invite them to be the first to tie their ribbons the ribbons that are being passed on the mosque fence and now we envisioned a much smaller crowd to be doing this so it might not happen while we're speaking and it might be whether if not today than in the days to follow if you're able to come tie your ribbon to the mosque fence and we invite everybody else whether today or in the days to follow to do so as a symbol of your commitment to do your part to end islamophobia faith is at the heart of the reason we are here today it was faith that was targeted and it is in faith that we draw strength so as such we will of course open tonight's event with the quran recitation and that's the holy book we invite brother mustafa but from london's very own scripture education program the quran has program also a program of the london muslim mosque to recite from the quran brother mustafa [Applause] [Music] uh [Laughter] [Laughter] no [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] in oh believers seek comfort in patience and prayer allah is truly with those who are patient never say that those martyred in the cause of allah are dead in fact they are alive but you do not perceive it we will certainly test you with a touch of fear and famine and loss of property life and crops and give good news to those who patiently endure who when faced with a disaster say surely to allah we belong and to him we will all return they are though they are the ones who will receive allah's blessings and mercy and it is they who are rightly guided [Applause] [Music] thank you mustafa for that beautiful recitation and reminder i would like to next invite the london muslim mosque chairperson bilal rahal to say a few words [Applause] i would like to thank you all for being for us today and standing in solidarity with the muslim community as a member of the london muslim community i never thought that i would stand with you on an occasion like this if i want to be honest i hoped i would never have to leaders from every level of government from every government levels are with us today here and i look forward to hearing from them how they will end up this hate but for now and for me i'd like to speak to our community i am from london this city is my city and this country is my country as it is your city and your country never allow anyone to make you think otherwise because of the color of your skin your faith or where you're born [Applause] this is our city and we're not we're not gonna let hate scare us or intimidate us or divide us yes we do expect from our political leaders to take action and yes we do expect to see some policies in place but we need to recognize that we belong here this is our city and we're not going anywhere may god envelope the victims with his mercy and may he guide us to the right path thank you bilal next we have sheikh anwar who will say a few words that will be translated into urdu in honor of the language spoken by the salman family there is ease surely with every hardship there is ease upon receiving the horrific news the london muslim community was violently shaken we felt pain sorrow fear and anger we were in a dark place but after the darkness of the night comes the light of daybreak after hardship comes ease we are a resilient community we are a strong community we belong here this is our home we will not cower out of fear we will not cower out of fear we will be resilient by being normal by being ourselves we will heal as imam i want to acknowledge the outpouring of support from our london non-muslim community our friends our neighbors your love will help us heal [Applause] i want to acknowledge the outpouring of compassionate emails and letters from the interfaith leaders who are present here today as well your kindness will help us heal i want to acknowledge our leaders our political leaders for being here with us your presence means a lot and you will help us heal as well i want to call for an immediate action a national action summit on islamophobia where leaders come together to take immediate action on dismantling both violent forms of islamophobia and systemic islamophobia this will help us heal lastly but certainly not least i want to mention our dear absolute family gone now but forever in our hearts they were loved when they were alive their memory will be cherished now that they're gone we will honor their memory we will take care of the surviving orphan fairs he is our son we will take care of him i'll leave you with the words of yumna my student from last year she said i want to leave a legacy she proceeded to paint a mural in the mosque that reads shoot for the moon even if you miss you'll land among the stars thank you very much [Applause] thank you for those powerful words shaykh and if you haven't seen the mural i do encourage you when hopefully the mosque is open opens its public doors again post covid to come and take a look it's painted and it's quite beautiful i now invite imam abdul fattah standing alongside other faith leaders to share a message in the name of god the compassionate the merciful i greet you all with greetings of peace the support that this community has shown is truly overwhelming i don't have to say the reason that has brought us here together today which was an egregious act a violation to the furthest degree of our humanity that occurred for the af family may god have mercy on them all but i have a message of hope that although what brought us here together today is a tragedy what i want to offer is a message of hope a hope that this gathering today represents a pivotal moment in the history of our beautiful community in the history of our beautiful city of london in the history of our province of ontario and in the history of our beautiful country canada [Applause] that hope is that this gathering is a turning point where every single one of us [Applause] so we will resume momentarily everybody we're going to resume momentarily we're just making sure everybody is safe and secure of course and to that end we do have water on both ends if you guys can start passing that through the audience that would be excellent stay hydrated folks it's a very very hot and humid day so please start passing through that water and make sure you're drinking 17 okay just make sure that everybody gets their water folks and we're gonna resume with the program so the water is being passed around and so we'll resume with the powerful message of imam if you can go ahead the message of hope that i want to deliver to everyone here for those of you who are present and hear this message and for those of you who are witnessing this from afar across the nation from coast to coast to coast i want every single one of us from the highest levels of government from our elected officials to the everyday commoner that exists in our country in our province in our city in our community to make a commitment a solemn promise that you will do everything within your capacity to fight the scourge of racism of discrimination of xenophobia in any form that it exists every single one of us we need to do our part and we need to do this together collectively may god bless you all and give us the strength the courage the wisdom to be able to fulfill our solemn promise to our country and to our god thank you assalamu yes and islamophobia now yes thank you very much for those words imam taweco you all saw the mc hover is what i like to call it when you're trying to coordinate timing can we have a doctor [Music] as we said folks our safety and security is of everyone present is of utmost concern to us so if you do see a health concern happening near you make way make space we should all be making space anyway because we are in the middle of a pandemic so you should be trying to separate as much as you can so if you can all push back if you can all push back away from anybody who may be suffering i know the instinct is to want to push forward to see what's happening push back please make way for people for medical personnel to come through and once we get the clear to go ahead then we will proceed with our program but like we said the point of this program is that the safety and security of all people is what we need to work towards right thank you so you're just getting a live look now at that vigil that has now been paused because it appears that there was a disturbance in the crowd we just heard the organizer asking for a doctor and reminding everyone to stay safe to drink water stay hydrated because it is a very hot day out there miranda not exactly sure what exactly is happening but there were requests for people to make way for medical personnel and to not crowd people who appear to be having some sort of medical episode that's right it's about 25 degrees in london ontario right now but with the humidex it could be feeling much warmer than that so hopefully they are able to get a paramedic or a doctor to whoever needs the medical help in that crowd just want to make a note of what has been said so far tracy we just saw the sort of emcee of the vigil is the second vice chair of the london muslim mosque and she started off with a very powerful speech very powerful statement and what stuck with me is what she said sort of her younger family members have come up and told her or asked her which was do i look too muslim hello and that's just heartbreaking that young kids have seen what has happened have heard about what has happened in london ontario young muslim kids and this is what they're asking their family members and adults now it seems like the program the vigil is resuming so let's go back and listen in live and we will proceed with our program our next speaker is dr ingrid matson she's the windsor community chair in islamic studies at huron university college so i would like to call dr matson up to the stage take a breath it's okay oh god our lord you caused the night to pass into the day and the day into the night you bring forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living and you provide for whoever you will without limit and blessed is he in whose hands is the dominion and he has power over all things he is the one who created death and life in order to test which of you is the best in deeds and he is almighty all forgiving it is late spring here in london and the peonies are blooming and the irises too although they will flourish and fall quickly each creation of god has its own lifespan and its own way of living and we creations of god each have our own lifespans and our own ways of being too we trust in the wise plans of our creator and we know this life our life in this world is precious precious and always temporary but it is a wonderful opportunity it is our opportunity to cherish and grow all of the capacities that god gave us physical intellectual emotional social and spiritual why did god create us with so much diversity and difference it is because each one of us can only reflect a tiny part of the beauty of god god's beauty and majesty and that is why the more we come to know each other the more we come to love each other the more the closer we come to each other and to god i see in all of you today a reflection of god's mercy love is greater than hate and hate can be overcome and for those of you who still have hate in your hearts we want more for you we want better for you we want your hand your heart to be unconstricted so that it can expand more and more like the hearts of the people here with love until you come to know the source of all love thank you for being here lovely people thank you for those beautiful words dr ingrid i'd like to invite yumna sa'a a lis graduate and lm board member to share hadith with us peace be upon you all to allah we belong and to allah we will return um reported that the messenger of allah peace and blessings be upon him said no muslim is afflicted with a calamity but that he should say what allah has commanded him indeed to allah we belong and to allah we will return o allah reward me in my affliction and replace it with something better than it if he does so allah will replace it with something better insha allah healing can come out of this through the prayer allah has guided us to say assalamu alaikum thank you for that beautiful reminder yum now once again as always folks if you see something happening near you take two steps back don't step forward but take two steps back focus on passing out waters and take two steps away from anything that is happening we've heard from our community leaders and this event is chiefly by and for our community for our collective grief and for our collective support but we're now going to shift slightly to hear from our political leadership as well because at the end of the day this event happened because of pervasive and structural islamophobia which is perpetuated in a systematic manner i would note here tonight look around we have in attendance today the leader of every major political party including francois blanchet leader of the black quebecois who led a motion in the house of commons today condemning islamophobia this gives us a glimmer of hope that islamophobia can rise above partisan lines to be something all parties firmly work against the london muslim mosque as you've heard has called for an immediate national action summit on islamophobia and we hope this call will be heard by the leaders in attendance here tonight to speak more on that and other matters is london's own nawaz tahir chair of hikmah london's muslim anti-islamophobia advocacy organization [Applause] thank you all for coming tonight over the course of the last 24 hours i've done a number of media interviews and i thought i had answered every conceivable question about what had happened but one of the last questions was from a foreign news agency and that reporter asked me why are we talking about this in canada you're supposed to be the most tolerant country in the world my grandfather came to this country with one bag and that's it and through the love of the community he was set up with a job people helped him sign a lease and then he brought my mother and seven uncles and aunts and it was for the pursuit of that canadian dream that promise of a better life for him and his family his children and generations to come and so all of you i ask you you're here because you care and i love every single one of you for being here and showing that you care we have a job together and i need all of you to be ambassadors ambassadors of love because love will conquer hate love is the disinfectant of that small minority in our country that want to divide us and pit us against each other and to those who want to hold the constitution to those who want to hide behind freedom of expression i ask you a simple question what is the point of freedom of expression if a canadian family does not have the freedom to walk on a sidewalk in this country without getting murdered so i say i say to all of our political leaders that are here today we are in a war against hate and that war requires non-partisanship it requires cooperation it requires united leadership and action god bless you thank you very much [Applause] thank you nawaz with that in mind i'd like to invite our prime minister of canada and federal liberal party leader justin trudeau to say a few words assalamu alaikum thank you for inviting me to join you to the loved ones and friends of the afzal family and tonight we are all friends of the afzal family i am so sorry for your loss we hold you in our thoughts just like we hold your precious nine-year-old boy in our hearts this family touched so many around them salman was known for his warm heart madiya was working on her phd in engineering she and her daughter had painted a mural at their mosque and yumna was an active member of her student community their grandmother cherished her family and fayez still has so much ahead of him they were loved i know they will be so deeply missed to this community which has made london stronger for generations and to all muslim canadians we are with you there are [Applause] there are no words that can ease the grief of having three generations murdered in their neighborhood there are no words that can undo the pain and yes the anger of this community there are no words that can fix the future of that little boy who has had his future taken away but know this you are not alone all canadians mourn with you and stand with you tonight and always as canadians we make a pact with one another that we will look out for each other take care of each other respect each other well for the muslim canadian community that pact has been broken too many times it was broken last fall in etobicoke and in quebec city in far too many places across the country islamophobia is real racism is real you should not have to face that hate in your communities in your country we can and we will act we can and we will choose a better way when someone hurts any of us when someone targets any parent or child or grandparent we must all stand together and say no no to hatred and to islamophobia no to terror and to racism in yapad place this was an act of evil but the light of the people here today the light of the lives of the upsell family that will always outweigh the dark together we will take action together we will find our way forward thank you may peace and blessings be upon you thank you prime minister i'd like to invite the leader of the conservative party of canada and leader of the opposition aaron o'toole to speak grief is what comes naturally at a moment like this we grieve for the lives that were lost we grieve for a family that will never return from a walk on a tranquil sunday night we grieve for a young boy in hospital whose life will never be the same community ensemble the mosque we are at today is the second oldest mosque in canada here here it is a reminder that the muslim community in london helped build this great city as mr rahel said you belong here because you made this city great and today this entire community and this entire country stands with you as we come to grips with this attack and the profound loss thousands today many faith communities volunteering water efforts to show solidarity with you but what comes after grief is commitment we have to commit ourselves to working across party lines with premiers with mayors with faith leaders to end the kind of violence and hatred that took these lives this was an attack on a family walking together in their community the afsoul family was entitled to the same security the same freedom from fear and the same freedom to worship as every canadian and we have to commit ourselves to making sure it is a reality for all canadians the rise in islamophobia and other forms of hate in this last year are the pandemic of darkness amid the kovid 19 pandemic we know the muslim community is stronger than this or any act of terrorism committed against you we know the city of london is stronger than this or any act of terrorism and i hope some in the muslim community today find some solace in this passage from the quran that i read in the house of commons today good and evil are never equal repel evil with good and be patient to a community that is in mourn mourning and is fearful please know that we will repel evil with goodness and stand courageously alongside you against intolerance let's transform our pain and to resolve our tears into perspiration in our joint effort to build a tolerant and inclusive canada for this family and a nine-year-old who is looking to the nation to act and inshallah i hope we will rise to show him we will act thank you i'd like to invite the federal new democratic party leader jagmeet singh to say a few words [Applause] thank you islam alaikum we've come today together in a really incredible powerful showing of love and solidarity just to look around you and see how many people have come together this is incredible this is powerful this is beautiful thank you [Applause] but we've come together for a heinous and horrible act of terror an act of terror that stripped from us a beautiful family better also stripped something else when the sister was speaking earlier she mentioned that her nieces were asking do i look too muslim we have children that are worried that they might look too muslim if they were a hijab this act of terror was committed with the purpose of driving fear into the hearts of the muslim community so i want to say to my sisters that we're a hijab to my brothers that wrap their head we will not cower in fear we will wear our turbans our hijabs with pride because we are proud of who we are we will not let terror win [Applause] i also want to remind us all that this heinous act was an act of hate and hate is like a fire once hate takes hold it spreads consuming everyone so it is our collective responsibility to stand against that hate to give it no air to breathe no space to take hold that is our collective responsibility and one i ask all of you to take together [Applause] and what we need to do now is real action after this act how many more lives have to be taken before we act how many more muslim brothers and sisters have to lose their lives before real change is put in place we need real action i don't claim to have all the answers but i put three things before you one never again should any political leader ever use islamophobia for political gain that can never happen again never ever there is no space for that let us all agree [Applause] secondly the real and urgent threat to canadians lives the real and urgent threat is coming from hate it's coming from extremist right-wing ideology it's coming from white supremacy so let's put resources towards the real and urgent threat against canadians [Applause] and and finally i know my time is up i'll just wrap up with this last point we need to tackle online hate in each case of hate against muslims in each case where we saw violence against muslims in the quebec shooting in the killing of a brother in toronto in the violence against muslim women in edmonton we know that this is happening from radicalization happening online so we have to be serious about fighting hate online so that hate has no space to radicalize future violent actions thank you i commit to you that i will be an ally in fighting for a future where families can walk the streets without fear muslim brothers and sisters can walk the streets without looking over their corners no one should be afraid of who they are together we will stand and build a canada where no one is afraid where we all are celebrated for who we are thank you salaam alaikum [Applause] thank you jagmeet i'd like to invite leader of the green party of canada anime paul to speak thank you very much for inviting me into your community thank you very much for allowing me to be with you during this time of profound grief once again the community has been asked to bear the unbearable once again all over the city all over the country parents are having to sit down with their children to explain to them why these things have happened once again this community has been asked to be resilient when it should not have to be when i was when i was thinking about this family when i was reading about the family that had been lost to us something felt incredibly familiar about it and what occurred to me is that this could have been my family the parents are almost the same age as i am and my husband the children are the same age as as mine this could have been my family and i know that many people in canada are thinking that today and i'm here to say that it is your family it is your family when these things happen they happen to all of us and we must remember that [Applause] the message is clear the hate is growing the hate is growing and we have got to stop it and we all have to be in that together because even as this pandemic has brought out the best in our communities it has also brought out the worst in some people so what do we do what do we do we i cannot see into the heart of the person who committed this act but i know that often when these acts are committed they are intended to strike fear to cause pain to inflict the vision amongst communities what i say to that is where there is fear we will be defiant we will speak out though for every single child who is questioning themselves and their place and their safety we will speak out on their behalf because the silence emboldens hate where there is pain where there is pain we will replace it with action we will replace it with action to ensure that everyone can have safety in their identity that they can walk out of the house as who they are with no fear and without any concern and where there is division we will ensure that there is unity we will ensure that those who seek to divide us will not succeed because at the end of the day what we what we can do to remember those who have been lost is to say that hate will not win and as we speak the names of the upsell family may their memories be a blessing we will say that hate will not win and as the leader of our party i stand in solidarity and i also promise you this that my voice will be your voice i am not there to impose my agenda i am there to reflect what you tell me you need at this moment that is my commitment to you thank you very much thank you enemy i'd now like to invite ceo of the national council of canadian muslims mustafa who has been a great support and resource to the community at this time to say a few words [Applause] i'm here because we lost a family member to terror that's what this is this is terror and we keep losing our family this cannot keep happening the reality today is that i am angry i am angry because i had to stand beside ayman derbali last year rendered paraplegic because of the quebec city moss massacre i am angry that last year i had to walk down to the imo in etobicoke and see the body of muhammad al-samzabis and i will remain angry because for how can we not be angry as long as the canadian muslim is the victim of unspeakable horrors of islamophobic attacks that keep happening we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies tired and ashamed cannot be allowed to become police officers in quebec under bill 21. we cannot be satisfied as long as our national security agencies still seem more obsessed with us than those that are killing us we will never be satisfied as long as white supremacist groups are allowed to walk as they have walked in london before with impunity and are not being dismantled but but my anger and the anger of thousands of canadian muslims will turn into positive action an action of love of dignity of the need of the way you came tonight to protect us to protect our neighbors today to the leaders here to the prime minister to the premier to ministers and opposition leaders we need to see a national summit on islamophobia on an emergency basis [Applause] because our martyrs did not just fall last year they didn't fall last week they didn't fall last sunday they continue to fall and we will continue to stand thank you mustafa i'd like to call upon sahar zimmer to do a recitation of hadith and again i'd like to remind everybody please spread water around pass it around and try to take space i know it's a hot and humid day so sahad if you could with hadith may the peace and blessings of the almighty be upon each and every one of you according to an authenticated hadith the prophet muhammad peace and blessings be upon him said whoever amongst you sees evil let him change it with his hand meaning let him take action if he cannot then with his tongue meaning let him speak out and if he cannot than with his heart meaning at least by hating it and believing that it is wrong and that is the weakest of faith so in light of this tragedy let us take action against evil with whatever means we have accessible to us either by direct action words or belief may allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala shower the deceased with mercy and grant the family patience and strength just thank you [Applause] thank you very much sahar i'd like to invite chairman of the board of directors of the muslim association of canada dr nabir sultan to say a few words today we stand as a community with a broken heart but we stand as a community also with a determination and resolve while we fully appreciate the strong political support across all political parties today the message from the community is clear words are no longer enough we hold our elected officials responsible for creating a society where we don't have to explain to our children why they are being told to go back home and why their hijabs are being ripped from their heads [Applause] we demand a day when we can take our families to the park without looking over our shoulders just in case the muslim community and mac is demanding from our political leadership that we take steps towards addressing the root causes of islamophobia including criminalizing islamophobia we ask we we ask and demand from our governments that they take steps towards eradicating systemic islamophobia there is no reason why a muslim any man or woman in fact should be suspected of being an extremist because of their faith there is no reason why a muslim charity or a muslim organization becomes suspected of terrorism because of the religion it upholds enough is enough [Applause] and to my beautiful community my dear brothers and sisters of all walks of faith i say this please do not let hate intimidate you never be ashamed of who you are wear your hijab proud raise your head high for you are a believer in the one god and allah will allow us to heal inshallah [Applause] well you don't really realize the height of people until you have to talk in a microphone afterwards thank you i'd like to now invite the premier of ontario and leader of the progressive conservative party of ontario doug ford to say a few words [Applause] [Music] well good evening everyone on behalf of the people of ontario of a province left in mourning i'd like to extend my deepest sympathies to the friends and family of the afzal and solomon families what happened here in london is a tragedy beyond words three generations of one family take it in a senseless act of hatred and violence but right now this evening there's a nine-year-old boy in the hospital who's lost his parents his grandmother and his fifteen-year-old sister we are told fiaz will survive the injuries he sustained and we can only thank god for that but fiaz has suffered a tragedy that we can't even begin to consider our hearts break for him his family and everyone in the city of london in the coming days weeks and years little fias only nine years old will show the sword of bravery none of us can really comprehend let us all be firm in our resolve to do whatever we can to support fires to be a source of strength and love for him as i know everyone in london ontario and across the country will we're so grateful to those who rush to the scene the first responders and the community members who witnessed this awful act of hatred and didn't hesitate to help their fellow citizens thank you for your bravery and for your selflessness we were all shaken by this act we were left trying to understand how this could happen in a beautiful country in a beautiful province like ontario we know only that this awful crime was motivated purely by hatred and racism as mayor holder has said this was mass murder it was a hate crime it was an act it was an act of terrorism against a family targeted for their beliefs and for their religion this type of racism and terrorism cannot and will not be tolerated we must stand united against it it must be condemned in the strongest terms of those who commit this type of evil must and will be punished to the fullest extent of the law we need to work every day to ensure that ontario is a safe and inclusive home for everyone who lives here because through this incident we have come to face to face with the fact that too many canadians still live under the threat of racism and discrimination and it focuses focuses us to ask ourselves what can we do about this what can we do to make our country our society a more inclusive and just place what can each of us do to atone for the tragedies of the past these are the questions that i and every other person in ontario are asking right now and we must come together as a society in response today we stand shoulder to shoulder with our muslim community and their time of mourning we stand with them in the face of the unbelievable pain and suffering they're enduring right now and i want every single muslim person every muslim family to know that we're with them we'll always have your backs we grieve with you we pray for them this tragedy this brutal act of terrorism will never ever be forgotten thank you god bless thank you very much now we do have a number of other speakers that we want to hear from this evening but we would first like to lead into a moment of silence we're not going to do it now but in a few minutes because we are nearing that time this time on sunday when the salman family was just taking a stroll and so when we do hit that moment we would like to take a pause so before we hit that i just want to address the heightened anxiety that has surfaced as a result of this tragedy i know many of you have talked to me about feeling scared to pick up your children from school while you wear hijab scared of simply taking a walk right now scared to be visibly muslim visibly different i know many of us are afraid but i don't want to talk about fear i want to talk about decisions a decision to remain silent to ignore poisonous rhetoric and injustice a decision to fear monger to dog whistle to pass discriminatory legislation to uphold that discrimination to dehumanize a decision to hate a decision to murder a family because of their faith i want to talk about decisions a decision to show solidarity a decision to learn about each other and to teach each other a decision to drop off flowers to tie ribbons to build bridges to show love our lives [Applause] our lives are an accumulation of the decisions that we make and our faith which can make us feel like a target at times is our greatest strength it teaches us that we are all family brothers and sisters in humanity we shape that family our community through our decisions so today and onwards let's decide what we want our london family to be and on that note and in honor of the lives that were taken i'd like and the lives that have been uprooted as well as a result of this hatred we're going to take a moment of silence i'd like to first invite all the friends and family of the victims any first responders here tonight who would like to join us on the stage i will get my mask don't worry all dignitaries representatives of the many groups who have reached out to us and we do feel that love so thank you so all representatives of the many groups the friends the family please come join us on stage in a socially distanced manner and i'd also like to call up yasmin khan a close family friend of the deceased to lead us into this moment of silence where we can reflect and we can pray we could do whatever you would like to do in your moment of silence so yes mean we'll just give a few minutes for people to come up on stage and these are that this is your visual representation of the lives that are have been impacted in case you needed that beyond the thousands of people that have come just tonight is foreign before we take this moment of silence i have a few words i would like to share my sister would not have wanted us to live in fear with wearing our hijabs she would she would have wanted us to be proud of our identities she would have wanted us to unite together to stand for what is right she would have wanted us to be kind to one another that's all i ask take pride in your hijab and your religion be humble and be kind we may now stand we may now stand to begin our moment of science is special thank you thank you you can do it whenever you like the close friends and family are now beginning to tie their ribbons and as we said after this event in the days to come if you would like to go and tie your ribbon as your commitment to do your part to end islamophobia to end hatred then we encourage you to do so it's always very difficult to carry on after a moment of silence like that what's one moment when lives are taken moments forever right but in any event we will carry on and i'd like to invite the leader of the ontario new democrat party and leader of the official opposition andrea horvath to say a few words assalamualaikum we're all here tonight in a time of unspeakable sadness and terrible loss to pour out our love and support for the afsal family and the muslim community who are reeling and traumatized by this heinous act of islamophobic terror our hearts are aching for a young child who faces unimaginable loss millions of ontarians are united in grief and solidarity with muslims here in london and across our province and it's amazing to see the community of london here as well in solidarity with the muslim community these hate fueled acts of terrorism must stop no one should fear walking with their loved ones on a street on a spring evening or fear worshiping or volunteering at their masjid or worry about their children being bullied at school but we know it is happening each and every day in this province and it has been for far too long we must admit this that is the first step we must as ontarians admit this it is a very real very familiar fear facing muslims because of islamophobic white supremacist violence and hate and it is long past time for governments at all levels to step up and take real action and i support wholeheartedly the call by the nccm for a national summit to address islamophobia that also is long past due all governments need to act to address the rising tide of islamophobia and hate it has to stop too often from us politicians we hear words now is the time for action for action we must eradicate at a systemic level the violent organized groups spreading this hate spreading islamophobia right here in our province we must and we can we absolutely can do that together i'm going to keep pushing i'm going to keep pushing for action here in ontario as i'm my colleagues and inshallah it will come [Applause] assam alaikum everyone let's hope this is the last gathering in ontario of this [Applause] nature thank you very much for that i'd like to invite the leader of the ontario liberal party stephen de luca to say a few words [Applause] assalamu alaikum it is so rare i will tell all of you that i'm at a loss for words but tonight as i look out and i see the thousands and thousands of residents from london and far beyond and we hear the eloquent remarks provided by community leaders and faith leaders and political leaders remarks that are truly a call to action for the 15 million people who call this province home and the millions of others from coast to coast i cannot help but think over and over and over again of a nine-year-old boy who we hear thank god is going to recover from his injuries he's going to wake up and have to go forward in his life knowing that that most important anchor that we all rely upon our families is no longer available to him back home tonight where i live with my wife and our two daughters our younger daughter grace is his age and i just cannot understand and i cannot accept that faiz will have to go through the rest of his life bearing the deep emotional trauma and scars because of this horrible horrible act of terror that should never happen in ontario and should never ever again happen in canada when i think of the resilience and the strength and the resolve that we hear in the pain and the anguish that is being shared by all of the speakers and all of you muslim canadians muslim ontarians from every corner of this province it is remarkable that you are here in such strength not surprising but remarkable nonetheless i love our province and i love our country but my goodness we still have so much work to do to close the gap between what we dream of and what you have to suffer through so you have my commitment you have my commitment that tonight the words though they are eloquent and they are poignant and they are necessary the words will not simply be enough this time this time we will find the ability within ourselves with your support to make sure that the words become action that we never again have to gather like this because of terror because of islamophobia because of hateful bigotry and discrimination and rest assured drawing on your resolve and drawing on your resilience we will find a way to make sure that the ontario and the canada that we dream of is the canada and the ontario that muslims get to live in thank you very much [Applause] thank you for that i'd now like to call upon mike schreiner leader of the green party of ontario to say a few words assalamu alaikum i arrived here today saddened and broken-hearted and angry broken-hearted because a family was murdered and lies were taken away in the muslim community my friends feel sadness grief fear i came here angry because a hateful heinous violent act of terrorism is ripping a community in a country apart but i look at this crowd i look at the love and the solidarity of people coming together and saying we will stand up against hate we will stand up against islamophobia and that gives me hope that there can be healing and so i want to say something special we all have a responsibility to stand up against hate in a law islamophobia but i want to say something special to people who look like me because we have a special response responsibility to stand up against the rising levels of white supremacy we see in our province and in our country and that's a responsibility that we all have but some of us have even more of a responsibility so let's leave here let's leave here with a sense of hope and healing and solidarity and love so that love will overcome hate thank you my friends [Applause] thank you very much i'd now like to invite our mayor ed holder and ward 7 city councilor josh morgan to say a few words and i would also like to thank them very much for the city's support that helped make all of this happen including literally closing oxford street off for us thank you i'd actually like to call all our counselors who are in the front area here to join us i think that is an important message because you've had a long night and when i say assalamu alaykum from my heart it's ironic because that says peace be upon you and i think of that and it's ironic the peace that we have to deal with as we go forward a little different from other speakers i would like to call first if i might i'm going to have two of our our counselors with very special uh relationship uh with the community and with this tragedy first if i might please call on counselor counselor from ward 3 muhammad salee [Applause] mr prime minister mr premier mr mayor not only am i asking you tonight as a counselor for this beautiful city but i'm also asking you as a member of the muslim community to do everything within your power to make sure this never ever happens again this was a terror sack we can never shy away from calling it what it is terrorism white supremists and races have been living in london rent-free for too long and it's time to evict them all we shouldn't have the young muhammads and aishas afraid of saying their names to the young muhammad and aisha's in the city of london london commits to you to doing everything we can to ensure that you feel welcome and safe and wallahi i will do everything within my power to ensure the city delivers muhammad aisha ahmed fatima khadija we see you brothers and sisters and we will do everything we can to fight for you wallahi muhammad i'd like to ask our deputy mayor who is the counselor for ward 7 where this tragedy occurred deputy mayor morgan please [Applause] thank you last night the mayor and i attended the site of this act of terrorism and attack on our city we spoke with grieving community members as they paid tribute to our lost friends and loved ones and the lost sense of security for our muslim brothers and sisters many in this community feel less safe in london today than they did yesterday and two days ago less safe in your city less safe in your london home that's not right it's not acceptable last night i spoke to a woman from syria who stood there with her newborn son she used to walk regularly in spring bank park now she said she's afraid to do that i didn't know if i had any meaningful words that could comfort her but i'll tell you what i said over the last day thousands of londoners have written messages to city council the mayor and i and other community leaders expressing their support thousands more stand here tonight these messages come from every part of london every faith every gender every race every age every socio-economic situation every sexual orientation where else but in canada does so much diversity come together in support of members of our community who are hurting so much we stand with you we feel and hear your pain we grieve with you we stand ready to take the necessary action to restore your sense of security and your faith in our collective community thank you [Applause] thank you josh i have the opportunity to say my deepest thanks to the prime minister to the leaders of the federal parties to members of federal parliament to our premier to leaders of our opposition parties at queen's park and to our members of provincial parliament you being here sincerely matters to us matters to all of us as londoners and i want to say on behalf of us our deepest and heartfelt thanks to all of you for making london and making today important for ontario and for canada i i will be clear this was a terrorist attack this was an act of mass murder and a grotesque expression of hatred rooted in islamophobia the magnitude of what has happened to this precious family and to our muslim community can make us question who we are as a city and even who we are as londoners we now live in a time and in a place where thousands of muslims our family members our neighbors friends and coworkers perhaps the next time they go for a walk and through no fault of their own may be looking over their shoulders but i'd like to ask all of you my muslim brothers and sisters to look over your shoulders on this night to look at all the support the compassion and the empathy that is shown tonight [Applause] look over your shoulders and see that you are surrounded by love love from your fellow londoners and love from fellow human beings this love is unwavering and unconditional and it is my promise it will always be with you now when i look out at the thousands that are here tonight we confront the question of what kind of community what kind of city and what kind of country will that recovery take place both physically and spiritually i think of the obligation we have to each other and perhaps the sacred obligation we have to our nine-year-old brother fez assal as the lone survivors this attack and remains in hospital you've heard he is expected to recover but you know we have to live in a place where his clothing and his religion does not mark him for death and it must not be one where hatred which claimed the lives of his family is ever allowed to fester instead it must be one that is reflective at all times of the love and solidarity on display that we see tonight it's how we honor young fez and how and through him how we honor his sister his mother his father and grandmother it's how we ultimately re reclaim our collective humanity and restore dignity for all of us as londoners may i say to all of you in this crowd you matter you make a difference you show humanity you show love god bless you thank you thank you very much ed and all the city councillors uh three quick announcements we are nearing the end of the program and i know that uh it's getting dark and we're anxious to try to get things out so that people can get home safely before it becomes too dark first issue um has entered for those of you don't know that's a prayer and adan we will be making it at the end of the program because we are almost at the end if you would like to pray now in any event please make your ways to the side and you can go ahead and pray at your own leisure second announcement um i'm being told that on order of the premier's office all provincial government buildings will be flying their flags half mass until the funeral and the third announcement i have forgotten to be honest so we'll just move on i'd like to ask london police chief steve williams to come up and say a few words apparently my hovering isn't really working tonight but we're really gonna need i'm gonna hover on you steve williams so if that's okay thank you good evening i'm honored to be here so many have been impacted in an untold number of ways by this tragedy a nine-year-old orphaned family members friends loved ones and the entire community on behalf of every member of the london police service i offer my deepest sympathy and condolences to all those who are grieving i want to speak directly right now to those who are feeling unsafe or who are living in fear as a result of this incident know that there will be no tolerance in this community for individuals who are moated motivated by hate and who target others with violence or acts of terror we will do our part to bring those individuals to justice know that i and every single member of the london police service stand with you we are committed to supporting you and fighting with you against hate intolerance in any person who uses violence to target individuals based on their based on their faith skin color ethnicity or any reason whatsoever all of us have a role to play we will move this through this together and we'll be united as your police chief i'm committed to supporting you through this tragedy not only today but in the days to come the days that follow in leading a police service comp comprise of women and men who are compassionate empathetic responsive committed to a safe city and who are aligned with our shared values of equity and respect for human dignity despite all of our differences that's my commitment thank you thank you i'm now going to ask um thames valley district school board director of education mark fisher to give a 30 minute very very brief speech and i'm not even gonna not hover for the whole time no sorry 30 seconds as everybody is now screaming at me 30 seconds i am honored and moved to be here tonight with so many community members who have come together in remembrance of the tragic loss we all suffered sunday night fifteen-year-old yumna was a student at oakwood secondary school which is just a short walk from this mosque her teacher said yumna loved to learn enjoyed the company of her friends and classmates and wanted to make her family proud of her efforts her teachers described her as a smart and dedicated grade nine honor roll student who was always ready to support her friends and the community she was creative she liked to paint she was confident and had a bright and sparkling personality she arrived to class with a beaming smile each and every day yumna dreamed about travel and someday becoming a business owner as a way of giving back to her community she was caring compassionate and devoted to giving her best efforts each and every day together we stand with our london family and vow to purposely make real change in our communities thank you very much i've never been so rude in my life okay um i now remember my last announcement so uh i've been asked to announce that this friday there will be a london multi-faith march to end hatred uh it's going to be departing from the place of the incident and we're going to walk here which is a nice very brief hour and 20 minute walk um so for those of you who would like to join that's at seven o'clock on friday and finally in order to conclude tonight's evening i want to say thank you so much to all of you who have been standing there all um evening yeah i'm going to ask uh concluding remarks now i will say before uh our concluders come up to to conclude uh for cleanup please make sure that you know we do our part for the environment bring whatever you came here with if you took some plastic in the form of water which i hope you did that you take that with you too and everybody does their part around them and uh so i'd now like to ask dr haddada and dr munir qasim to end our evening with their concluding remarks thank you [Applause] to share final words well i don't have to speak each and every one who's present here is a final word you all said everything that needs to be said except one angle i would like to share with our officials now there's a reason why they say the world is a small village every country has a foreign policy i just want to say whatever is happening in jerusalem and gaza is is related to whatever happened in london ontario period thank you [Applause] [Music] i don't have remarks i have been asked to do that which we do in times of grief and in crisis and that is turned to god so i've been asked to share a few prayers the prayers i will share will be from the quran and from the prayers of the prophet peace be upon him when he experienced times of difficulty and times of grief [Music] [Music] [Music] as i read some of the prayers please feel free to observe in silence or if you are comfortable please say mean or amen at the end i will read some of the prayers in their original arabic and i will read some with the english translation in the name of god the most gracious the dispenser of grace all praises you to god alone the sustainer of all the worlds the most gracious the dispenser of grace lord of the day of judgment you alone do we worship and you alone do we turn for aid guide us the straight way the way of those in whom you've bestowed your blessings not those who have been condemned by you nor of those who go astray [Music] oh our lord we seek refuge with you from misguiding others or being misguided from falling into error or leading others into error from oppressing others or for being oppressed ourselves and from harming others or being harmed ourselves [Music] foreign [Music] our lord protect us from what lays before us and behind us that which is on our right and our left we seek refuge in your power lest we be harmed unintentionally or suddenly [Music] our lord grant us to see the truth as it is to stand for it and to live for it and grant us to see falsehood as it is and to stand against it and to avoid it our lord you know that we have lost people tonight that we have loved and who have loved us admit them into your unbounded mercy forgive them and grant our dear brother strength and courage our lord lift this hate from the hearts of men and grant us that we may live to know each other and compete in what is good and what is righteous allah [Music] [Music] [Music] to god in the beginning and in the end and always salaam alaikum hmm allah [Music] allah [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] and with that thank you very much for attending today please remember that our our discussions on mental health resources that are available please have a safe evening and take whatever you brought with you including the water bottles that you picked up along the way thank [Applause] you [Music] some very powerful messages from muslim community leaders in london ontario tonight some who knew the victims many of them calling for a national action summit to address how to fight islamophobia now federal party leaders spoke as well as ontario's political leaders all promising action but no concrete steps were actually detailed and the vigil has concluded but we will continue to monitor developments out of london ontario a city that has been thrust into the global spotlight because of the unbelievably horrifying act of hatred perpetrated against a muslim family on its streets an act that has sent shock waves of pain and grief rippling across the country as we remember salman afsal his wife madiha salman their 15 year old daughter yamna afsal and yamna's grandmother we keep the surviving family member nine-year-old faiz of saul in our thoughts as he recovers in hospital thank you for joining us tonight we'll return in a moment with more of the day's news

Channel: Global News

Views: 254,211

Keywords: global news, London Ont. attack, London Ontario, London Ont. vehicle attack, Vigil for victims of London Ont. attack, Islamophobia, Muslim family killed London Ont., ontario muslim family killed, Afazaal family, London attack vigil, Trudeau, Justin Trudeau, Jagmeet Singh, Erin O'Toole, Mulsim, Islam, Anti-muslim attack, Anti-islamic attack

Id: 8_YGRGgRRCg

Length: 138min 22sec (8302 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 08 2021