On Jan. 29, six men were murdered at the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec City in Quebec, Canada, by a shooting inspired by religious discrimination. The Islamic Cultural Center was an establishment founded to provide a place of religious worship and meditation for the Muslim members of its community. People who came from many areas such as Algeria, Morocco, and Guinea, all found solace in gathering at the mosque to come together in religious worship.

There was an estimated 50 people present at the time gathered at the mosque for their event prayers before the shooting. It was around 8 p.m. when the shooter Alexandre Bissonette opened fire in the mosque, shooting anyone that was in his sight. In the process, six people were murdered and 19 people hurt. Bissonette, perpetrator of these attacks, is 27-years-old and a student at Laval University, and has been charged with murder for his actions. This attack was considered as a terrorist attack by the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, but Bissonette was not accused.

Victims of this attack who were killed included Khaled Belkacemi, Azzeddine Soufiane, Aboubaker Thabti, Mamadou Tanou Barry and Ibrahima Barry, and Abdelkrim Hassane. Belkacemi was a respected professor in Laval University’s School of Agricultural Sciences and Food who was respected in the school with a family of three children with another professor in the same department as him. Also with a family of three children, Soufiane was known to be a friendly person who was open to helping newcomers with adjusting to their new environment. Thabti was said to have a job in the pharmacy, and he was known as a good person whom many loved. Manadou Tanou Barry and Ibrahima Barry were two good friends, not related by blood but both from the West African Republic of Guinea. Hassane was a programmer working for the government.

Following the shooting at the Islamic Cultural Center, people gathered together to remember the passing of these valued members of their community. These men were remembered and mourned for at the Notre-Dame-de-Foy Church. Both Muslims and non-Muslims gathered together to march in remembrance of those lost in the shooting. Condolences to the families and the community that experienced the loss of their loved ones.