Opinion: A city continues to mourn the death of six people at a Sainte-Foy mosque—and grapple with the issues that helped fuel the attack
Nora Loreto is a writer and activist who lives in Quebec City.
January is a difficult month in Quebec City. The bitter winter is at full force, and it will linger well into April. But as the month nears its end, the city’s Winter Carnival takes over some of the streets. Bonhomme smiles upon us from shop windows and houses. He reminds us that it’s going to be okay; we can have fun amid such isolating cold.
At city hall, flags that feature Bonhomme Carnaval are already hung. Characteristic carnival horns adorn winter floral arrangements. And under several flags featuring this carefree snowman mascot, the city’s mayor ends a terse back-and-forth with a CBC journalist about how safe this city’s Muslim population feels.
It’s one week before the anniversary of the attack on Sainte-Foy’s mosque, and CBC News’ Catou MacKinnon presses the mayor to comment on the fact that she has struggled to get individuals to show their face, give their name or talk publicly about how things have changed—for better and for worse—since the attack that left six men dead and five men seriously injured. Régis Labeaume refuses and asks for the next question.
From the beginning, the reaction of Mayor Labeaume to the mosque shooting has seemed like a proxy for how many white, francophone Québécois feel about this attack: shock, anger, and sadness amid a struggle to grapple with what happened and what to do next.
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