Nathaniel Veltman, right, and Justice Renee Pomerance, left, look on as Madiha Salman’s mother Tabinda Bukhari makes her impact statement, as shown in this courtroom sketch, in London, Ont., on Jan. 4.Alexandra Newbould/The Canadian Press
More than 30 relatives of a family slain in an Islamophobic attack have told a Canadian court that the 2021 hate crime has obliterated their belief that Canada is a country of tolerance. They say the attack has left them feeling betrayed and fearing other potential acts of violence.
These victim-impact statements were delivered in person and via web camera from Pakistan by relatives grieving over four members of the Afzaal family, who had made their home in London, Ont., before a white nationalist drove his truck into them while they were out for a walk.
The attack killed parents Salman and Madiha Afzaal, both in their 40s; their 15-year-old daughter Yumnah; and also her paternal grandmother, Talat, 74. A nine-year-old boy survived the attack.
“There was rage – a rage at a country that was supposed to be free of racism,” said Azhar Ghani, a brother of one of the victims.
“This does not happen in Canada. This is not my Canada,” said Ismet Qidwai, an aunt.
“My daughter used to say, ‘When I grow up I will move to Canada because it is very Muslim-friendly,’” said Arjumand Ghani, a sister. “This act of terror shattered her dreams. The Canada of June 6, 2021, was the opposite of being Muslim-friendly.”
In October, a jury convicted 22-year-old Nathaniel Veltman of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder for his attack on the family. A judicial ruling is pending on whether his crimes will also be considered an act of terrorism under Canadian law.
Mr. Veltman will now serve an automatic life sentence in prison. But the outcome of this week’s sentencing hearing in Ontario Superior Court in London may influence his eventual prospects for release when he becomes eligible for parole in 25 years.
In the spring of 2021, the young man was writing extremist manifestos against what he called mass immigration. He bought a black Dodge Ram pickup truck. Several weeks later, he accelerated it at the Afzaal family, whom he had spotted, at random, wearing traditional Islamic clothing.
On Thursday, relatives in the extended family said Mr. Veltman’s attack left them traumatized, depressed and fearful. Women who wear headscarves in Canada said they feel like targets. Some relatives said they no longer stroll outside and the mere sight of a black pickup truck triggers terror.
Sheema Khan: The loss of the Afzaal family reminds us what happens when hate goes unchecked
The victim-impact statements recalled better times, when Salman and Madiha left their native Islamabad with infant Yumnah in the mid-2000s. Settling in London, they gave birth to their son, and successfully pursued postgraduate university degrees. Often singing the praises of their new home, they encouraged their relatives to come over, and also be welcomed by Canadians.
But the 2021 attack took all those hopes and aspirations away.
“Dreams were shattered at that intersection,” Tabinda Bukhari, Madiha’s mother, told the court.
Ms. Bukhari flew from Pakistan to Canada for the funeral, and went to what she called her daughter’s well-decorated dream home. But she told the court that the house was devoid of its people and seemed to her a “haunted, soulless, empty shell.”
Ms. Bukhari told the court she is reduced to looking for echoes of her lost family in the grandson who survived the attack.
“I see reflections of Madiha and Salman in so many of his mannerisms,” she said. “His smile. His way of talking. His gestures. The shape of his feet. My heart aches.”
Some relatives recalled seeing the orphaned boy in a wheelchair during the family funeral – moving, as one person put it, from coffin to coffin to coffin to coffin.
Several of the victim-impact statements were read to court by children, cousins who said they have been contending with deep depression – and fear.
“They were murdered because of their faith as Muslims. As an 11-year-old I couldn’t understand,” Humza Islam testified. “Why would someone kill another person without knowing them?”
Now 13, the cousin said he thinks about the prospect of being attacked himself whenever he prays in public, or even when he visits a skating rink. “When I wear my hockey jersey, I wear my name – Islam – on my back,” he told the court. “Should I be doing that any more?”
In the spring and summer of 2020, Yumnah Afzaal dedicated many hours to creating a mural at her elementary school, a place her friend says she loved. Police say Yumnah, along with her parents and grandmother were intentionally killed by a driver in a pickup truck in June of this year, targeted because of their Islamic faith.
The Globe and Mail