Yumna Afzaal 15, left, Madiha Salman, 44, Talat Afzaal, 74 and Salman Afzaal 46 right were mowed down by a driver in an apparent hate-motivated attack on the evening of June 6, 2021 (Photo credit: CBC News)

London, a city in Southwestern Ontario was a scene of unforgettable terror attack on a five member Muslim family who were mowed down by a truck driver in what police are describing as a hate-motivated, anti-identity and pre-meditated criminality.

Echoing the 2017 Quebec City mosque bloodshed in which six worshippers were gun down and five critically injured, reactions to the heartbreak in London, Ontario including from the Muslim community, political leaders and the Canadian public have, in unanimity, condemned the increasing acts of racism and Islamophobia in Canadian society including taking a stand against discrimination and hate in all its forms.

Related Story:

• Terror Charges preferred against hit-run truck driver
• Surviving nine year old child who was seriously injured in the attack on the Muslim family was released from hospital  

Analysis          

The June 6, 2021 dastardly crime shines another dark moment in Canada’s recent history as it comes on the back of recent discovery of mass grave sites harbouring the remains of 215 children believed to be students at the now-abolished Kamloops Indian Residential School in southern British Columbia.

There are new reports of hate-induced attacks on Black and racialized Muslim women in Edmonton, Alberta in the past few months. 

These incidences serve as a horrifying reflection of colonial legacies rooted in racism in Canada. While cries have transformed into calls for all three levels of government—federal, provincial and municipal—to rollout a uniformed approach to deal with racism and islamophobia, Quebec’s secular law Bill 21 which bans public sector workers including teachers, police officers and government lawyers from wearing religious symbols dwarfs any meaningful national attempt to combat racism and Islamophobia.