Writer: Ayesha Hasnain Editor: Adithi.S.Avadhani

On the seventh of June, Canada woke up to the news of a hate crime that had robbed a young child of his family. The Afzaal family had been taking an evening stroll in their neighborhood when the driver of a pick-up truck plowed into the curb. Four were declared dead in an attack that the London police believe was premeditated by the driver.

The family had been targeted by virtue of their faith - Islam.

Salman Afzaal and his wife Madiha Salman were active members of the London community alongside Salman’s mother Talat. The community fondly remembers Yumna Afzaal (15) as the painter of a mural inside a mosque that reads - “Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” While addressing Fayez Afzaal (9), who remains the sole survivor of the attack, the Premier of Ontario labeled the crime as an act of terrorism - the London police have considered pressing terrorism charges against the perpetrator, Nathaniel Veltman, alongside four charges of first-degree murder. Canadian Muslims called for a national summit on Islamophobia, voicing their concerns and sharing their stories of discrimination at the memorial held for the Afzaals. The incident stood to prove that Canada, too, wasn't spared from uneasy divides and prejudices among its citizenry like other countries in the world. The 9/11 attacks led to an uproar of Islamophobia in Canada, and the burning of a Hindu temple in Hamilton indicated that the discrimination wasn’t limited to Muslims and had morphed to include the general hate of emigrants. A total of 1946 hate crimes were reported in 2019 with a 10% increase in atrocities against Muslims. The 2017 anti-Islam march in London and the shooting at a mosque in Quebec were attributed to the rise in Islamophobia. The unearthing of a mass grave containing the remains of 215 Indigenous children in British Columbia, who were believed to have been subjected to mistreatment and neglect in the years they spent forcefully boarded away at residential schools, opened the deep wound of cultural genocide and religious discrimination in the country.

With 46% of Canadians harboring an unfavorable view of Islam, prime minister Trudeau deemed it fit to end his speech saying,

“Islamophobia is real. Racism is real. We must stand together and say no to hatred.” -