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Suspect In Quebec Mosque Shooting Charged With 6 Counts of Murder
Killings at Quebec City Mosque Force Canadians to Confront a Strain of Intolerance
(about 2 hours later)
QUEBEC — Alexandre Bissonnette, the alleged gunman who killed six and wounded eight at a Quebec City mosque on Sunday, was charged with six counts of first degree murder and five counts of attempted murder at the Quebec City Courthouse late on Monday afternoon, handcuffed and wearing a white jumpsuit but leaving a country wondering why.
QUEBEC — In a world often hostile to migration, Canada has stood out, welcoming thousands of refugees fleeing war and seeking a haven. It has been a feel-good time for Canada, proud of its national tolerance.
The shooting on Sunday, the first time someone had been killed in a mosque in Canada and, at least recently, a rare event outside the Muslim world, shocked a nation that has prided itself on openness and has been lauded for its welcoming acceptance of Syrian refugees. The shooting, however, underscored a growing anti-Muslim sentiment that has been particular virulent in some parts of this French-speaking corner of the country.
On Sunday, that was upended when a man walked into a mosque and started shooting, killing six people and wounding eight. The alleged gunman, Alexandre Bissonnette, was charged with six counts of murder on Monday.
“Canada took in roughly 30,000 Syrian refugees in a three month period —proportionate to the U.S. taking in 225,000 over that time,” said David B. Harris, a lawyer and a director at Insignis Strategic Research Inc., a counterterrorism consultancy. “These are dramatic developments in the life of any nation.”
The nation quickly rallied after the attack. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called it an act of terrorism, and there was a collective outpouring of remorse and empathy. But the attack also forced Canadians to confront a growing intolerance and extremism that has taken root particularly among some people in this French-speaking corner of the country.
Mr. Bissonnette was well known to people who monitor far-right groups in Quebec, where he was a frequent commenter on sites speaking about immigration and Islam.
It was also a wrenching event for a country not accustomed to mass killings and even less used to the acrimonious immigration debate that has echoed from across the United States. Before Sunday, many Canadians were watching the immigration ban there with fascination and, for the most part, disgust.
The attack stunned Canada, where mass shootings are uncommon, and was condemned by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a “terrorist attack on Muslims.” The country has become known as a beacon for refugees fleeing warfare and terrorism in Muslim-majority nations.
“Muslim Canadians are valued members of every community and wherever they live they deserve to feel safe; they are home here,” said Mr. Trudeau, speaking at a memorial near the mosque in the Ste. Foy neighborhood in the biting evening cold on Monday. “We are all Canadians. Let peace unite us all.”
Muslim leaders from Quebec joined the province’s premier, Philippe Couillard, at a news conference on Monday morning. “We’re all Quebecers,” Mr. Couillard said. “All of us. Each one of us. We are a large nation, a large people, but we’re even more united today.”
Yet while Canadian public figures of all stripes closed ranks quickly to reaffirm their solidarity with Muslims in Canada and tighten their embrace of multiculturalism, the killings remained a tear in the fabric of a nation in transformation.
President Trump called Mr. Trudeau to express support. Pope Francis offered his condolences to Cardinal Gérald Cyprien LaCroix, the archbishop of Quebec, who was visiting Rome on Monday. Messages of solidarity poured in from the leaders of France and Germany; Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York; and a 7-year-old girl who recently fled Syria, among others.
“Canada took in roughly 30,000 Syrian refugees in a three month period — proportionate to the U.S. taking in 225,000 over that time,” said David B. Harris, a lawyer and a director at Insignis Strategic Research, a counterterrorism consultancy. “These are dramatic developments in the life of any nation.”
Mr. Bissonnette had a history of provocative views and antisocial behavior, according to a report in the Quebec newspaper La Presse. The newspaper quoted François Deschamps, an official with a refugee advocacy organization, as saying that Mr. Bissonette had make harassing comments against members of an online chat room.
Mr. Bissonnette, 27, who was also charged with five counts of attempted murder, appeared at the Quebec City courthouse looking boyish in a white jumpsuit.
The organization, Bienvenue aux Refugiés, said in a Facebook post that Mr. Bissonnette had made remarks critical of feminists and foreigners, and that he had expressed sympathies online with the National Front, the far-right political party in France.
The shooting was the first time anyone had been killed in a mosque in Canada in such circumstances and was, at least in recent times, a rare event outside the Muslim world. The attack was particularly shocking for Quebec City, which has a population of about 750,000, the bulk of whom work for the provincial government, universities or in tourism. Until Sunday there had not been any murders in the city for 21 months.
The article quoted classmates of Mr. Bissonette as saying that he had been bullied and taunted at school, and was known for making insulting and offensive remarks.
Mr. Bissonnette was well known to people who monitor far-right groups in Quebec, where he frequently commented on sites speaking about immigration and Islam. He was a particularly vocal supporter of Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far right, when she visited the city last year.
The authorities initially said that there were two suspects, but Quebec’s provincial police agency said on Monday that only one man was a suspect and that another man — arrested at the mosque on Sunday evening and identified as Mohamed Belkhadir — was only a witness. Mr. Belkhadir was released on Monday, as the authorities searched a house in the Cap-Rouge section of Quebec, where Mr. Bissonnette lived.
He was a student of anthropology and political science at Laval University, just minutes from where the shooting took place, according to people who monitored his online activities.
“For the moment, nothing indicates to us that there was anybody else involved,” said Chief Inspector André Goulet of Quebec’s provincial police agency.
“He was not a leader and was not affiliated with the groups we know,” said François Deschamps, a job counselor at Carrefour Jeunesse, a community organization that helps young people find jobs. Mr. Deschamps, who also runs an online group to help refugees called Bienvenue aux Réfugiés, said he had watched Mr. Bissonnette’s anti-Muslim postings for about a year.
Speaking after the news conference, which was also attended by several politicians, leaders of the mosque said that the suspect was not known to them.
“The minute I saw his picture this morning, I recognized him,” Mr. Deschamps said in a telephone interview, adding that Mr. Bissonnette used his real name online.
But they said the shooting had followed acts of harassment and bigotry that had led the mosque to install eight surveillance cameras. The acts ranged from hate mail to swastikas painted on its doors to a pig’s head left in front of the mosque last June.
Mr. Bissonnette and his family live in Cap-Rouge, a western suburb of Quebec City that lies in the shadow of a towering railroad trestle. Neighbors said there was nothing remarkable about the quiet young man.
“We’ve had to be very, very vigilant, careful for our community,” said Boufeldga Benabdallah, a co-founder of the mosque.
“We knew the family for 30 years,” said Alain Dufour, a neighbor. He said Mr. Bissonnette and his brother were “normal kids, nothing indicating bizarre behavior.”
“Six of our brothers they were,” he said of those killed in the attack. “The prayed beside us, and they were shot in the back because they prayed.”
Even outspoken critics of the religion recoiled at the prospect that an increasingly acrimonious debate over rising Islamic immigration may have contributed to the violence.
Several of the mosque leaders said that the gunman appeared to have targeted people who were praying when he arrived.
Kellie Leitch, a conservative member of Parliament who has proposed screening immigrants for “Canadian values,” issued a statement calling the attack “not just on those gathered in a house of worship but on the very fabric of Canadian society.”
Mr. Benabdallah, however, said that Muslims in the area were surprised and comforted by the outpouring of support from the broader society.
Quebec has had a history of confrontations with the Muslim community. In 2005, the province became the first to explicitly ban the use of Sharia law and, less than a decade later, the Parti Québécois government tried to pass a “charter of values” that would have banned provincial employees from wearing Muslim headscarves and other “overt” religious symbols.
Mr. Couillard, the premier, said such solidarity should not just be something produced during difficult times.
Quebec City, meanwhile, is a conservative bastion within the province and home to right-leaning radio talk shows that push an anti-Islam agenda — unusual for Canadian broadcasters.
“It’s normal in times of crisis that everyone will speak the same voice of tolerance, integration and inclusion,” he told reporters. “The real challenge will be three weeks from now, to continue saying this.”
Lise Lavary, a columnist for the tabloid Journal de Montreal, said it may be time for the debate to calm down.
Mr. Couillard declined to comment on the possibility that anti-Islamist remarks by Mr. Trump during the presidential campaign had played a role. But he did add: “We live in a world where people tend to divide themselves rather than unite. Our country, Canada and Quebec, has to remain a beacon of tolerance.”
“I am a very vocal opponent of Islamism, and I realize now that whenever I condemn ISIS a lot of people view this as me condemning every Muslim on earth,” she said by telephone on Monday. “Self-censorship looms for the common good.”
Of the five people still hospitalized on Monday, three were due to be released and two were being treated for serious injuries, according to Quebec City University Hospital.
Mohammed Amin, in charge of social activities at the mosque, said the community had a “cordial relationship” with its neighbors. He dismissed the pig’s head that was left at the mosque’s door last year as “a small incident” that could happen anywhere.
The authorities provided a timeline of their response to the attack.
But other leaders at the mosque said there have also been hate letters, and swastikas painted on its door, episodes which led to the installation of eight security cameras.
At 7:50 p.m. on Sunday, the police received calls from the mosque reporting that shots had been fired. They quickly arrived and realized that were there were numerous victims, and one person was arrested at the scene. At 8:10 p.m., a man called 911 asking to speak with investigators; officers arrived at an access road near the Île d’Orléans Bridge and arrested him.
“We’ve had to be very, very vigilant, careful for our community,” said Boufeldga Benabdallah, a co-founder of the mosque. Of the victims, he said, “The prayed beside us and they were shot in the back because they prayed.”
Two hours later, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police set up a national security task force, and security was increased at other mosques in the city and on the Laval University campus.
Ste. Foy, the postwar suburb where the attack occurred, is far from the walled city center, which is stuffed with historic buildings and tourists.
On Twitter, Martin Coiteux, the provincial minister of public safety, said that “the police systems for dealing with terrorist acts have been activated” after the shooting. “Ensuring the safety of the population is our priority,” he wrote.
The victims came from a variety of countries of origin and occupations. Azzeddine Soufiane, 57, was a butcher with a shop down the street from the mosque. Khaled Belkacemi, the oldest victim at 60, was a professor of soil and agri-food engineering at Laval University, according to members of the mosque.
The six men killed ranged in age from 39 to 60, said Inspector Martin Plante of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. They appeared to come from several countries.
Mamadou Tanou Barry, an information technology worker, and Ibrahima Barry, a provincial public servant, were brothers, Radio-Canada reported. Aboubaker Thabti, 44, came to Canada in 2011 from Tunsia and had two children. A programming analyst with the provincial government, Abdelkrim Hassane, 41, was father to three daughters.
A woman in Tunisia, Amira Derbali, confirmed in a Facebook message that her brother Aymen Derbali had been wounded in the shooting. Mr. Derbali, 41, is a Canadian citizen and a father of three, his sister said.
“Certainly Islamophobia has been increasing for some time,” Samer Majzoub, president of the Canadian Muslim Forum, said by telephone from Montreal.
Another Tunisian, Bechir Thabti, wrote a Facebook post confirming the death of his brother, who he said left behind a wife, son and daughter. “We received the news of the death of our brother Boubaker Thabti in a cowardly attack in Canada,” Mr. Thabti wrote on Facebook. “We belong to him and to him we return.” (The death was also confirmed by the political party Ennahda, of which Boubaker Thabti was a member.)
But he said the attack was nonetheless shocking. “It is overwhelming, unthinkable,” he said.
The attack came after Mr. Trudeau said that Canada stood ready to continue welcoming refugees from terrorism and war and as Mr. Trump’s executive order on immigration stranded people around the world and provoked condemnation that it was directed at Muslims.
About 765,000 people live in the city of Quebec, and 6,760 of them identified themselves as Muslims during the last national census.
Mr. Trudeau posted a message on Twitter on Saturday welcoming refugees to Canada and included a photograph of himself with a child under the hashtag #WelcomeToCanada. Since Mr. Trudeau took office in late 2015, the country has admitted nearly 40,000 refugees, many of them fleeing the war in Syria.
Canada’s warm embrace of Syrian refugees has won the country accolades at home and abroad, but it is not without its domestic opponents. A survey in Ontario last summer found that while there was widespread support for accepting the refugees, only a third of respondents had a positive impression of Islam, and more than half felt that its mainstream doctrines promoted violence.
Anti-Muslim episodes have been on the rise in Canada, with several minor incidents reported in Quebec during the past year.
A Montreal mosque and a Sept-Îles Muslim community center were slightly damaged in separate arson attempts in December, and the head of the Association of Muslims and Arabs for a Secular Quebec received online death threats the month before.
The increasing tension led a member of Parliament, Iqra Khalid, to put forward a motion in the national House of Commons in December calling on the government to condemn Islamophobia and request a study on how the government could combat the trend. The motion is expected to be voted on when the House returns to session this week.
Vigils commemorating the attack victims were scheduled for Monday in Ottawa, the capital, and in the city of Quebec, Montreal, Trois-Rivières and Saguenay, all in the province of Quebec. The government also set up an online register for people to express their condolences.
