Quebec Shooting Orphan’s Fund DONOR IMPAC T REP OR T 2021
TITLE | DONOR IMPACT REPORT 2020
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Assalamu Alaikum, On behalf of Islamic Relief Canada, I wanted to thank you for your support of our Quebec Mosque Shooting response, specifically the Orphan’s Fund to support the victims’ families. Your contributions have gone a long way in supporting the affected by the tragedy. By the Grace of Allah, these funds have helped 15 orphans along with their families. We are extremely grateful to our generous community across Canada for always mobilizing to support our humanitarian efforts across the world and right here at home. With the rise of Islamophobia across North America now, more than ever, is a time for solidarity and unity. You are providing many vulnerable families in Quebec with essential support to overcome these difficult times. We pray that Allah accepts our efforts and makes us a means of creating positive impact in the lives of others. Warmest Regards,
Zaid Al-Rawni
CEO, Islamic Relief
Overview of Situation On January 29th 2017, a mass shooting occurred at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, a mosque in the Sainte-Foy neighborhood of Quebec City, Canada. Six worshippers were killed and nineteen others injured when a lone gunman opened fire just before 8:00 pm, shortly after the end of evening prayers while fifty-three people were present at the time of the shooting, according to reports. The six men who were killed during this tragic event left 6 widows with 18 orphaned children. The victims were Khaled Belkacemi, Azzeddine Soufiane, Aboubaker Thabt, Mamadou Tanou Barry, Abdelkrim Hassane, and Ibrahima Barry. The violent nature of the Quebec mosque shooting has created indirect victims of wives and children who have been attempting to restructure their lives and deal with the impact of their losses. Another worshipper that had been shot is Aymen Derbali, leaving him quadriplegic, spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair with very limited independence. For the last few years, the widows and children have faced many challenges with coping with the loss of their husbands and fathers, and struggling financially as their husbands were the main breadwinners for their families.
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Fundraising Efforts
Orphans and widows are one of the most vulnerable groups in society. Many women and children who are impacted by gun violence receive limited access to social service support for trauma assistance. Almost all the widows who have been impacted by the Quebec mosque shooting struggle with low to no income to support their children with basic necessities such as proper
housing, food, clothing and educational supplies. Many of the women rely on government assistance and/or are fighting to receive the victim money that is meant to be awarded to them. The financial burden and familial pressure placed on the mothers to solely raise and support their children impacts their living circumstances such as health, education and socioeconomic status. The Quebec Shooting
Orphan Sponsorship campaign by Islamic Relief Canada that ran between 2019 and 2020, collected about CAD $65,330. The campaign’s purpose is to support the mothers through monthly donations, acting as a source of income to support the children by improving their access to basic necessities and living a dignified life.
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Disbursement to Families In initial meetings and calls, some of the families expressed that the contributions could be beneficial in helping to pay monthly bills, groceries, medication, medical equipment and therapies, and school supplies. The amounts are now used to cover these basic needs as well as additional health insurance costs.
required to submit supporting documentation which is re-assessed on a bi-annual basis.
supplies and equipment (ie. insulin for diabetics) and school supplies for the children.
This fund has currently supported 15 individuals and a payment schedule for disbursement is provided in the beginning of each quarter to the families’ home addresses.
We conducted a thorough needs assessment and the individuals benefiting from the program were
The monthly support contributed to expenses such as rent and housing bills and utilities, groceries, medical
Additionally, the participating families also receive health insurance coverage from Manulife/Manuvie to cover health related costs such as dental and physiotherapy, commenced in October 2020. The health insurance coverage has afforded the families basic dental care, coverage for medication and visits to medical specialists.
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Impact of Support on Families From the month of September throughout October 2020, Islamic Relief Canada conducted a short survey to check in with the families and evaluate the financial assistance
provided to them which also allowed the families to report on services received and any changes to their current circumstances. Despite the day to day challenges the
families still face, they expressed their gratitude to Allah, the donors, and Islamic Relief Canada.
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Case Study Maryam (all names have been changed to protect identities) is the widow of Saleh. She arrived from North Africa as a bride in 2000, a decade after her husband immigrated to study in Quebec City. Together, the couple had started their business project and worked together until the shooting. Within 17 years, they built a successful business, a beautiful family with three children and lived a calm and routine life as Muslims in the FrenchCanadian province. While Saleh went to pray in the masjid regularly and as often as he could for so many years, on the day of the 17th, he was fatally shot while protecting others and immediately died on scene. He left behind Maryam and their three underage children. The sudden shock of losing a husband, prompted Maryam to sell their business and forced her to get by as a single-parent to look after her children, who were traumatized by the sudden and violent loss of their father. The new situation demanded her to take on different roles and new responsibilities, which she was not prepared for. Maryam had difficulties in keeping up with the pressures of a single-parent, working outside the house, earning enough to pay the bills, additionally to her household and
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motherhood tasks. Moreover, she needed support managing her own grief and the grief of her children after the loss of their father, husband, breadwinner and protector. Her youngest daughter developed a chronic lifelong illness a year after the father’s death. Since then, the whole family has had to adjust to the new and difficult medical situation of daily monitoring blood levels, injecting medication, watching for signs of fatigue and nausea, tooth decay, and at times, emergency treatments in the hospital. Maryam has also been seeing a psychologist for the past three years. Whenever there is news about the shooter and discussion about his sentencing, stress overcomes her and impacts her life for some time after until she can recover. Since Maryam has been receiving the financial aid from Islamic Relief Canada every quarter, she worries less about her daily and monthly expenses. The additional income has assisted her with the purchase of a medical
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monitoring device as well as the monthly purchase of supplies, to manage and control her daughter’s deficiency. She uses the remaining of the funds to cover necessities such as home bills, groceries and any medical expenses. The inclusion of health insurance, which also consists of dental insurance, will cover the families’ dental care needs, in particular the vulnerable daughters’ dental issues. In our follow-up, she mentioned that she is very satisfied with the amount, process, implementation and the areas covered in the program. Maryam expressed her gratitude to Allah, each and every donor, and Islamic Relief for coming together to look after her family in such a turbulent and painful time.
Thank You Jazakallah Khair for your continued support and care for those facing trials and tribulations. Your support has made an immense difference for the orphans and their families in Quebec. We could not have done it without you, thank you.
“Whoever relieves the hardship of a believer in this world, Allah will relieve his hardship on the Day of Resurrection. Whoever helps ease one in difficulty, Allah will make it easy for him in this world and in the Hereafter...” – Prophet Muhammad ﷺ TITLE | DONOR IMPACT REPORT 2020
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3501 Mainway Burlington, ON L7M 1A9 info@islamicrelief.ca 1-855-377-4673 (HOPE)
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