Nearly a decade after being shot several times in the Islamic Cultural Centre in the Sainte-Foy neighbourhood of Quebec City, Aymen Derbali is focused on the small wins.
He can move his fingers on his right hand, make his own coffee and is now strong enough to grab his laptop.
Derbali was paralyzed from the chest down after a gunman opened fire in his mosque on Jan. 29, 2017, killing six men and injuring 19.
Sitting in his living room in his motorized wheelchair, Derbali calls some of the improvements “little things,” but they represent major steps in his recovery.
One of the bullets that struck him the night of the attack remains lodged in his spine — too dangerous to remove. He says he’s one of the lucky ones who made it out.
Derbali had been near the mosque’s entrance when the gunman opened fire. Rushing toward the shooter in an attempt to destabilize him, he was shot several times, but still tried to get back up.
“I thought that this is the end,” he recalled.
“When I woke up in the hospital … in the beginning, I thought the hospital was heaven.”
Nine years later, he’s focusing on his family, community and advocacy — particularly at a time when he says Islamophobia is surging in the province in the wake of several pieces of legislation reinforcing secularism in Quebec.
“Fighting Islamaphobia, this is my duty,” he said. “I have to raise my voice.”
‘Islamophobic laws’ target Muslims, says survivor
Following the attack, Derbali expected less Islamophobia and more tolerance. As an advocate in his community, he says he’s witnessed the opposite.
He still reads hateful comments online and words spreading ignorance.
He says the secularism laws introduced in Quebec over the past few years under the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government undermine efforts to foster understanding.
In November, the CAQ tabled another bill aimed at strengthening secularism.
Bill 9, titled An Act respecting the reinforcement of laicity in Quebec, sets out to build on two previous secularism laws passed under Premier François Legault.
It would put limits on public prayers in parks and inside public institutions, and extend a ban on religious symbols to workers in subsidized daycares.
This comes in addition to Bill 94, adopted last year, which extended the province’s ban on religious symbols to everyone who interacts with students in schools.
Bill 21, passed in 2019, prohibits public school teachers, government lawyers, judges and police officers from wearing religious symbols while at work.
In a video address in 2019 responding to criticism on Bill 21, Legault said it was time to “nail down the rules” on religious symbols.
“Some people will say that we are going too far. Some will say, we aren’t going far enough. In reality, this bill is moderate, just like Quebecers,” he said at the time.
To Derbali, it’s clear these are “Islamophobic laws.”
The effects of this type of legislation on his community are tangible, he says, and even impact the widows and children of the men who died in the attack.
“I would like to know what is the problem of seeing women wearing a veil? What could be the problem? Where is the freedom?” questioned Derbali.
“All the freedoms … in Canada, we don’t see them in Quebec. It’s like we are living [on] an island.”
At the end of November, Jean-François Roberge, Quebec’s minister responsible for secularism, said that when the state is neutral, “Quebecers are free.”
He also rejected a suggestion from a reporter that religious minorities were unfairly targeted with Bill 9.
“We have the same rules applying to everyone,” he said.
‘We don’t lose hope’
Mohamed Labidi, president of the Islamic centre, says these laws are encouraging some community members to move out of the province.
The more restrictions impact religious groups, the more it “encourages those who have a xenophobic attitude to go even further,” he said.
“There is a risk of things spiraling out of control at any time due to these laws which promote xenophobia or racism,” said Labidi at a news conference in Quebec City on Wednesday.
With each anniversary, survivors of the attack renew their call for connection, compassion and tolerance to combat Islamophobia — and this year is no different.
For the first time, Quebec City is taking part in organizing the commemorations.
The ninth commemoration will take place at the city’s building, Édifice Andrée-P.-Boucher, starting at 5 p.m. Thursday evening. The city said it will be dedicated for the loved ones of the victims and dignitaries will also be present.
Mohamed Labidi describes how Azzedine Soufiane tried to tackle the shooter at the site of the Quebec City mosque attack.
On Friday, the mosque will open its doors to the community and will offer conferences and panels on promoting togetherness.
“These moments are very important,” said Nizar Ghali, who was shot twice on the night of the attack.
“Its important we take this as opportunities for us all to work together, to live together, to [have] dialogue. We’re opening the doors.”
He says he’s not against the idea of secularism but instead the way it’s been defined, presented and advanced in Quebec.
Derbali, for his part, says it’s not just a change in the government’s attitude that’s needed — it has to extend to all Quebecers, he says. That’s why he continues to be vocal, speaking at schools in the province.
“We are human beings, and if we don’t care about other human beings, we lose our humanity,” he said.
“These laws do not help [in] fighting Islamophobia, but we don’t lose hope. We continue.”
