Two years ago, a senseless terrorist attack took the lives of Afzaal family in London, where four innocent people were killed, with a fifth seriously injured.
Police alleged the driver, Nathaniel Veltman of London, targeted the family because of their Islamic faith.
Talat, Salman, Madiha and Yumma Afzaal’s tragic deaths serve as a reminder of both the consequences of Islamophobia and the importance of standing up to and speaking out against hatred in all its forms.
“Two years have passed by without our beloved family members. It feels as if it was just yesterday when we hugged our mother, brother, sister-in-law and niece at our yearly festival, which comes after the month of fasting for Ramadan. Life goes on. We know they are at a better place looking down upon us smiling,” Umar Afzaal, Fayez’s uncle, said in a statement released through his lawyer Monday.
“Time is the biggest healer and we have now the courage to thank them for their love and care all these years. A vacuum has endured for the last two years and we must now live with this emptiness for the rest of our lives.”
Candles vigils were organized across the City to mark the anniversary of this event to honour the community members take, remember how hate divides, and recognize the resiliency that has emerged from this tragedy.
Members of the London community honoured the family with several community events in hopes of continuing the healing for the community.
On June 6TH for the Our London Family Vigil was organized. The London Public Library was highlighting contemporary Muslim authors, stories and experiences.
Museum London presented the mural, ‘London Remembers.’ This is a work created by London artist Aruba Mahmud and the Youth Coalition Combatting Islamophobia (YCCI). In April, YCCI held workshops across the city and invited community members to share messages of remembrance, love and healing on purple hexagons. The group used many of these message-bearing hexagons in the creation of the mural, which illustrated Londoners’ stand against Islamophobia.
The Pakistani Canadian Association hosted a tree planting and plaque placement in honour of Our London Family.
“The lives of three generations of the Afzaal family were taken in an appalling and cowardly terrorist attack two years ago. Today, we remember #OurLondonFamily. We must, and we will, keep working to combat Islamophobia,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a Tweet.
“It’s unthinkable that this could happen to a family in our country, but far-right radicalization and Islamophobia continue to persist,” said Canada’s NDP Leader, Jagmeet Singh in a statement.
Two years after this tragic attack, communities in London are still calling for the government to create a national support fund for survivors of hate-motivated crimes and legislation to combat the spread of online hate and online hate speech. In addition, all the recommendations from the National Council of Canadian Muslims that came out of the summit on Islamophobia, called for by NDP MP Lindsay Mathyssen, must be acted on by the federal government,” he added.
Amira Elghawaby who was was recently appointed as Canada’s Special Representative on combating Islamophobia, in her column in Toronto Star wrote that as part of a first official visit this past spring, she met with Esa and his relatives, now taking care of Yumna’s younger brother, orphaned by the attack. “Family members expressed their hope that Islamophobia will be taken seriously as a phenomenon that can have deadly consequences, undermining social cohesion in a democracy that has enshrined freedoms of belief and equality in its constitution.”
Not surprising then that anxiety persists. Muslim Londoners spoke of latent fears when walking in their neighbourhoods; of children worrying about the head scarves their moms or sisters wear. Mosque leaders continue to struggle with safety issues, including whether to spend scarce funds on hiring security guards during community events, she wrote.
