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Four days of events planned to commemorate first anniversary of mosque shooting

Jan 22, 2018 | 2:25 PM

QUEBEC — The one-year anniversary of the Quebec City mosque shooting will be commemorated over a period of four days beginning Friday.

It was on Jan. 29, 2017 that a shooter entered the Islamic cultural centre of Quebec City and killed six while injuring 19 others, five seriously.

The first event will be a seminar in downtown Quebec City entitled “Living together with our differences,” organized by Quebec’s anti-radicalization centre.

Following the seminar, there will be a special prayer at the mosque Friday evening open only to the Muslim community, but the service will be broadcast online.

On Saturday afternoon, Universite Laval will screen a French-language documentary called, “Your Last Steps in the Mosque.”

Also on Saturday, the mosque is hosting an open house during which widows of the victims and others touched by the tragedy will speak about the shooting “for the first time,” according to organizers.

On Sunday evening, a spiritual rally will bring together members of the Muslim, Jewish and First Nations communities.

The commemoration ends Monday evening — the anniversary of the shooting — when the population is invited to bring flowers and candles to a vigil, which will take place outdoors close to the mosque.

Quebec City Mayor Regis Labeaume said what happened in Quebec city last year must never be forgotten.

“We can’t hide this event in any way,” he told a news conference. “We may use different gestures, but it’s absolutely necessary that we remember what happened … for the culture our children and (for) ourselves as we continue to reflect on our way of evolving in life when it comes to new immigrants.

The Canadian Press