‘They Got Away So Quick’: Toronto Commemorates First Anniversary of Mosque Killing – Toronto | The Canadian News

Toronto’s Muslim community has come together to commemorate the first anniversary of a volunteer who was killed outside an Etobicoke mosque.

In the weeks and months leading up to his death, 58-year-old Mohamed-Aslim Zafis was supporting those in need by delivering food during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On September 12, 2020, Zafis was killed outside the Toronto International Organization of Muslims mosque while conducting health screenings on people at the gates.

Police say Zafis was killed by an unknown suspect while sitting outside the mosque while checking the entrance to the building to comply with public health protocols.

It’s a painful reality that Zafis’s daughter, Bebe, continues to grapple with.

“(His life) was taken away so fast, so soon. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t miss him, ”he said.

“I’m afraid to go to mosques, to wear a hijab, to go out, to say ‘I know I’m not the next victim,’ but sometimes I feel like I am.”

To show their support for a grieving community, politicians, police, and various organizations attended the event. The mosque also held a food drive to honor Zafis’s legacy of dedicating his time to those in need.

Imam Junaid Bhaiyat describes Zafis as “a beautiful, kind, compassionate and loving soul who was brutally attacked and mercilessly murdered.”

“I can list the time that has passed since then, but how can I list the number of tears that have been shed?”

Mustafa Farooq, executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, says “too many beautiful people have been taken from us in the last five years.”

Farooq says the community has been pushing for the dismantling of white supremacist groups. Earlier this year, Canada added three far-right groups, including the Proud Boys, as a terrorist entity.

“We shouldn’t have had to see the death of a man outside in the parking lot for an action to take place,” he said.

Zafis’ killer is alleged to have had ties to neo-Nazi groups, which experts say have grown in recent years due to an explosion of hate online.

“The far right in Canada, the racist right in Canada, their core DNA type is anti-Muslim racism,” said Evan Balgord of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.

“The first thing we need right now is regulations for social media companies to proactively remove hate speech.”

In 2020, Toronto police reported a 51 percent increase in hate crime reports. Statistics Canada reported more than 2,600 reports that same year.

In 2019, a survey by Statistics Canada found 223,000 self-reported hate crime incidents.