A family's regular evening stroll in London, Ont., turned tragic this weekend in a hate-motivated attack.
Four members of a Muslim family — ranging three generations, ages 15 to 74 — were killed while a young boy was seriously injured after a 20-year-old man intentionally crashed into them on a sidewalk.
Police explain the family was waiting to cross an intersection in the northwest end of London when the attack took place on Sunday (June 6), adding the driver targeted the victims because of their faith.
Tonight (June 8), the city of Port Coquitlam is honouring those victims and the entire Muslim community by lighting up the colour green at city hall (2580 Shaughnessy St.).
"The city of Port Coquitlam condemns acts of hate-motivated violence and is devastated to hear of the recent tragedy in London Ontario," the city says in a statement.
"Our thoughts go out to the Muslim community and the family and friends of the victims."
Relatives identified the victims as Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, daughter Yumna Salman, 15, and her 74-year-old grandmother. The couple's nine-year-old boy, Fayez, remained in hospital with serious injuries.
London Police arrested Nathaniel (Nate) Veltman on Sunday at a mall about seven kilometres from the carnage shortly after he sped off from the scene.
He's since been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one of attempted murder.
WHY GREEN?
Port Coquitlam city hall is lighting green as the colour is symbolic in Muslim culture.
In Islam, green represents nature, heaven and life, referred to as "paradise" in the Qur'an where everyone "will wear green garments of fine silk.”
Green is also a colour that appears on several Islamic nations' flags and it has also been said that Islamic armies — in medieval times — flew the colour on their flags to identify themselves.
Islam is also described as "the middle way" and quite fittingly, green is in the middle of the colour spectrum.
On the night of May 31, PoCo city hall was lit orange in honour of the 215 children found in unmarked graves at the former Kamloops residential school.
The bodies, some as young as three years old, were found via ground-penetrating radar by Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation in late May.
Flags at city hall have since remained at half-mast to honour all children who attended residential schools.
CANADIAN LEADERS CALL CRASH "TERRORIST ATTACK"
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to attend a vigil in London this evening with other prominent Canadian leaders to honour the victims.
"Their lives were taken in a brutal, cowardly, and brazen act of violence," Trudeau told the House of Commons.
"This was a terrorist attack, motivated by hatred, in the heart of one of our communities."
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh also referred to the events in London as a "terrorist attack" and called for change in citing other recent hate crimes in Toronto and Quebec directed at the Muslim community.
"They walk the streets wondering if I will be attacked, just because of the way I look, not because of an enemy that I have, not because of someone that's got a problem with me. Will I be attacked today just because if the way I look? That is a real question people ask."
In a series of tweets from Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole, he says, "This type of vile and extreme hatred must be condemned. An Islamophobic act of terror like this has no place in Canada. We stand with the Muslim community and reaffirm our commitment to build a country that is free from hatred, where Canadians of all faiths can live without fear of violence or persecution."
Trudeau, Singh and O'Toole are set to attend the vigil along with other dignitaries like Ontario Premier Doug Ford and London Mayor Ed Holder.
