KITCHENER -- Places across Waterloo Region will be lit up in green Saturday night to remember the victims of the Quebec City mosque attack.
On Jan. 29, 2017, six Muslim men were killed and five others were wounded after a man armed with a semi-automatic rifle and pistol opened fire at a mosque.
The men who died were Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42; Abdelkrim Hassane, 41; Khaled Belkacemi, 60; Aboubaker Thabti, 44; Azzeddine Soufiane, 57; and Ibrahima Barry, 39.
Saturday's event in Waterloo Region is part of the Green Square Campaign to remember the victims and as a show of support for the Islamic community.
The Coalition of Muslim Women K-W asked local municipalities to take part in the event which marks the fifth anniversary of the shooting.
Several locations will be bathed in green light, including the trees in Uptown Waterloo, the pedestrian bridge in Galt, the Cambridge sign outside city hall, and the Schneider Haus in Kitchener.
Fauzia Mazhar, executive director for the Coalition of Muslim Women K-W, said the colour green represents the colour of the mosque's carpet.
"That carpet, I don't want to say it turned red, but it changed its colour because of the blood that was spilled on it," she said. "The idea of using green for me is that we are making a commitment that we will do everything to keep that carpet – symbolizing that something was destroyed, lives were destroyed – green."
The Green Square Campaign will also be marked in communities across the country as part of a national day of remembrance and action against Islamophobia.
Alexandre Bissonnette, the gunman responsible for the 2017 massacre, pleaded guilty in court. In 2019 he received a life sentence with no possibility of parole for 40 years. The Court of Appeals later reduced Bissonnette's sentence to a minimum of 25 years in prison before he can apply for parole. His case was also being reviewed by the Supreme Court of Canada.
