‘Getting to know each other’: Muslim Awareness Week kicks off with more than 20 events Jan. 24-31
Posted January 23, 2025 9:25 am.
Last Updated January 24, 2025 5:40 pm.
Friday marked the start of the seventh annual Muslim Awareness Week (MAW) in Quebec — dedicated to fighting Islamophobia and in honour of the anniversary of the Quebec City Mosque attack on Jan. 29.
The yearly campaign involves a variety of events, both online and in-person, with community members and leaders. This year’s theme is “Getting to know each other.”
A launch event was held at Montreal City Hall on Friday afternoon and included several interfaith speeches from Rev. Paula Kline, Daniel Amar, Executive Director of the Montreal Holocaust Museum, and Boufeldja Benabdallah, co-founder of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City. Montreal city councillors Aref Salem and Alia Hassan-Cournol were also on hand.
“Building relationships is essential to cultivating healthy and vibrant communities,” said Samira Laouni, co-founder and president of MAW, in a press release. “We all come from different backgrounds and walks of life, but we are all proud Quebecers, and when we invest in getting to know each other, everyone wins.”
“All are invited to come and have a dialogue with their neighbours of Muslim faith,” said Salam El-Mousawi, co-founder of MAW.
“Muslims are similar to any other citizens in the province or in the country. They have their aspirations, their achievements, their contributions and their concerns.”
El-Mousawi says it’s important to combat Islamophobia with awareness.
“There is a fear that will lead to some unfortunate actions like what happened in the Quebec city eight years ago,” he said. “The assailant, unfortunately, he didn’t have enough information or correct information about Muslims and that led him to take aggressive action.”
Jan. 29 marks the fourth National Day of Remembrance of the Quebec City Mosque Attack and Action Against Islamophobia.
The campaign also includes a vigil being held at Parc metro station on the eighth anniversary of the fatal Quebec City mosque shooting of 2017, when a gunman attacked worshippers at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, killing six men.
“It’s to remember the efforts that we must all make together, so that this violence must never be a part of our society,” said Benabdallah, who was at the mosque during the attack. “How to do it? By getting to know each other and by educating our children.”
The start of the week also coincides with the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision to hear a legal challenge to Quebec’s secularism law Bill 21 – which bans some public sector workers in positions of authority, including teachers and police officers, from wearing religious symbols on the job.
The decision gives Laouni hope.
“It was a good surprise for us because we did not know exactly when it was going to happen and then finally it happened on the eve of the launch,” Laouni said. “We are really very honoured by that, we believe enormously in the Canadian and Quebec legal process.”
Bill 21 will be among the topics being discussed in the Muslim Awareness Week events taking place until Jan. 31.
Other events of MAW include: a blood drive organized in partnership with Héma Québec, a living library about “Muslim Presence in Canada” and an interfaith roundtable.
For a full list of the events, visit their website.
Organizers are hoping Muslims and non-Muslims participate.
“We need more dialogue, we need more direct exchange of ideas to fight the fear that might come due to the unaware people,” said El-Mousawi.
