Muslim Awareness Week
Muslim Awareness Week (MAW) is a yearly week of solidarity and exchange where people of all ages, backgrounds, and beliefs are invited to learn about the achievements, contributions, aspirations, and concerns of Quebecers of Muslim faith. Join us for the eighth edition of MAW, January 25 through January 31.
The objectives of Muslim Awareness Week are twofold: to introduce and celebrate Muslim identities as fear is considered a major driving force behind prejudice and hatred towards specific groups, and to educate the public so as to prevent hate motivated crimes towards this minority and in order to create a better society within Quebec society.
Each year, MAW has a new theme. The 2026 theme is “Breaking Walls, Building Bridges: A Quebec of Encounters and Hope” with a special emphasis on youth and mental health.
Events
January 28: Academic lecture by Professor Adnan A. Husain
Islamophobia and Antisemitism in the Crusader Society: From Medieval Mediterranean to Modern Global Histories
This lecture will examine the shared histories of Islamophobia and antisemitism as species of religious exclusion, bigotry and violence in Latin Christendom. It will explore how the crusades and its transformative role on medieval society, politics, economics and religious culture were crucial in changing the treatment of non-Christians under Latin Christian rule in the Medieval Mediterranean world. It will suggest that the dynamics of medieval persecution have had lasting consequences for the interrelated questions of Islamophobia and antisemitism.
Date: January 28, 2026
Time: 4:30-6:15pm, followed by a networking session from 6:15 to 7:45pm
Location: Tanna Schulich Hall, 527 Sherbrooke Street West
Register .
Adnan A. Husain is Director of the School of Religion and Associate Professor of the Medieval Mediterranean and Islamicate World in the Department of History at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He specializes in the cross-cultural and interreligious histories of interaction and encounter among Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Medieval Mediterranean world. He researches and teaches on religious and intellectual culture, coexistence and crusade, religious minorities, and the legacies of medieval processes and conceptions on contemporary Islamophobia, antisemitism, racism, and settler colonialism.
January 29: A Day of Commemoration
On 29 January 2017, 46 people were attacked in the Great Mosque of Quebec after Isha (evening) prayer. As a result of the shooting, 6 people were killed, many were seriously physically injured, 17 children were orphaned and a whole community left immensely traumatized and psychologically wounded.
What’s even more alarming is that this tragedy only signaled the beginning of a series of incidents across Canada targeting Muslims because of their identity including in Edmonton, Saskatoon, London, Mississauga and Toronto. According to the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights 2023 entitled “Islamophobia and its Impacts on Muslims in Canada”, Canada is leading the G7 countries in terms of targeted killings of Muslims motivated by Islamophobia and 1 in 4 Canadians does not trust Muslims. These hateful incidents do not happen in a vacuum; they are rooted in hateful othering discourses that demonize and dehumanize Muslims by framing them in stereotypical ways mirroring .
The skyrocketing anti-Muslim hatred across the country and internationally in light of international events makes it all the more important to commemorate the National Day of Remembrance of the Québec City Mosque Attack and Action Against Islamophobia through continuing to remember and honor the six victims:
- Ibrahima Barry
- Mamadou Tanou Barry
- Khaled Belkacemi
- Abdelkrim Hassane
- Azzeddine Soufiane
- Aboubaker Thabti
In 2021, the Canadian government designated January 29 as a as a way of commemorating the terrorist attack of the On January 29, 2026, 91˿Ƶ will commemorate the eighth anniversary of this tragedy.
Why does 91˿Ƶ commemorate the CCIQ Massacre and take part in MAW?
91˿Ƶ acknowledges that MAW represents an important opportunity of awareness raising around Islamophobia within 91˿Ƶ and helps build bridges between 91˿Ƶ and the Muslim communities across our city and province.
The annual institutional commemorative event of the mosque shooting falls directly under the umbrella of the IAIAS Recommended Actions a) Education 2/4: “Continue to honor the victims of the 2017 attack at Le Centre culturel Islamique de Québec, annually on the 29th of January.”
January 29: Quebec City Mosque Attack Commemorative Lecture
Impacts of Islamophobia on Muslim Mental Health
Time: 4:30-6:00pm
Location: Leacock 232, 855 Sherbrook Street West
The Green Square Campaign
What is The Green Square Campaign?
The Green Square Campaign is an initiative that takes place in the week leading up to January 29th every year to remember the victims and survivors of the Québec City mosque attack and encourages Canada to wear a patch of green fabric in solidarity with the victims and survivors, especially with the six widows, the seventeen children left fatherless and Aymen Derbali who is left paralyzed for life, and with every person suffering the consequences of the heinous attack.
Why wearing a Green Square is an important act of solidarity?
The green square represents the green carpets of the Québec City mosque, where the victims last stood to pray. It symbolizes the fact that the deceased are, God willing, in a green garden, in a better place since they left that night.
The Green Square Campaign was created to raise awareness about what happened on January 29, 2017, remember the victims, and support their families. The green square represents the green carpets of the Quebec City mosque, which were soaked in the blood of the victims. It symbolizes the fact that the deceased are, God willing, in a garden green, in a better place since they left us that night.
NCCM Green Square Educational Guide:
