United Way East Ontario and the United for All Coalition issued the following public statement today.
On behalf of the United For All Coalition, we are sharing this statement about the horrific attack on the Muslim family in London, Ontario.
The United For All Coalition is horrified and deeply saddened by the deadly attack on a Canadian Muslim family in London, Ontario, earlier this week. We condemn this act of Islamophobic violence, and our thoughts are with the young boy who survived while his family did not.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident of hate. There has been a series of attacks such as the Quebec Mosque massacre, the stabbing of a 58-year-old mosque caretaker in Mississauga, the many attacks on Hijabi women, and mosques targeted by vandals.
Islamophobia intersects with other systems of racism. Black Muslims, Indigenous Muslims, and Black Indigenous Muslims experience the compounding effects of anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous racism, and Islamophobia.
This latest attack against Canadian Muslim communities is an assault on our collective aspirations to build diverse, equitable, and inclusive communities. Yet another act of violence shows that we still have significant work to root out hate before it causes harm. This week we have reached out to our Canadian Muslim neighbours, colleagues, and friends to offer our condolences and solidarity. We will continue to look for ways to confront hatred in our own communities and ensure that every one feels welcome and safe.
Amira Elghawaby
Human Rights Advocate
On behalf of the United For All Coalition, we are also sharing the Community Statement issued by the United Muslim Organizations of Ottawa–Gatineau (UMO-OG) and the Council of Imams of Ottawa–Gatineau about the horrific attack on the Muslim family in London, Ontario.
About United For All
United For All is comprised of a growing partnership of organizations in the Ottawa region that have come together to address the issues of hate-based violence and extremism in Ottawa. The group has a table of champions representing the leadership of our city, as well as member organizations that represent the diversity of our community. The coalition is building a city-wide approach to tackling hate and violence with the goal of securing public and private funding to bolster its work. United For All has a long-term goal to build social resilience, to support education, advocacy, research, and ultimately, to overcome hate, bigotry and racism in Ottawa.
For more information on United For All visit unitedforall.ca.
