Remembering The Quebec City Mosque Shooting

On January 29, 2017 six individuals, Azzeddine Soufiane, Mamadou Tanou Barry, Khaled Belkacemi, Aboubaker Thabti, Ibrahima Barry and Abdelkrim Hassane, lost their lives during an attack on the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City in the Sainte-Foy neighborhood of Quebec City. At the time, Prime Minister Trudeau condemned this as a "terrorist attack on Muslims in a centre of worship and refuge" in a press release. One year on, this attack is still raising questions around the issue of terrorism in Canada and what we should or should not define as an act of terrorism. 

The shooter who attacked the mosque has been charged with murder and attempted murder. No terrorism charges have been laid to date. Section 83.01 of the Criminal Code defines terrorism as an act committed "in whole or in part for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause" with the intention of intimidating the public "…with regard to its security, including its economic security, or compelling a person, a government or a domestic or an international organization to do or to refrain from doing any act." The challenge can be in proving the motivation behind an attack to be able to legally label it as terrorism. It is easy to prove motivation when video and other material are available where the perpetrators clearly indicate their intent and motivation. But if motivation cannot be conclusively proved, then terrorism charges may fail and using other charges that have a higher probability for successful conviction may well be the best option. This may be why no terrorism charges have been laid against the shooter to date.

According to press reports, the shooter had expressed right-wing views in the past, especially on-line. But this alone may not be sufficient to clearly prove that the actions of the shooter on January 29, 2017 were actually fueled by these views. It looks like this incident may never be classified as a terrorist attack unless the motivation of the attacker can somehow be proven.

In some ways, this issue mirrors some of the debate around the death of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017. In this case, the perpetrator rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters gathered to oppose a "Unite the Right" rally of white nationalist and other right-wing groups. Again, the perpetrator in this incident had been associated with far-right beliefs but has only been charged with murder and not terrorism, potentially because of the challenge of proving motivation in this case as well.

Regardless of whether these attacks are officially classified as terrorism or not, they have raised a number of questions around the rise of right-wing inspired violent extremism. In June 2015, I chaired an event in Québec City to discuss the broader threat of terrorism to Canada. Issues around violent extremists with a range of motivations—from religion to anti-government and far-right viewpoints—were identified as potential threats. While it is important to focus on the immediate terrorist threats to Canada, we may well be leaving ourselves vulnerable if we fail to recognize the broader potential sources of violent extremist activity such as far-right ideologies.

The legal definition of terrorism is likely to continue to cause debate in terms of what should or should not be classified as terrorism. Ultimately, regardless of whether the incidents mentioned above are classified as terrorism or not, I hope that justice will be served upon the perpetrators of these heinous acts.

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