Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our country is coping with a terrible tragedy, the death of six men who were gunned down while worshipping at a mosque in Quebec City. We are a society in which targeted gun violence has struck again, as it did in 1989 at the Ecole Polytechnique when 14 women were massacred because they were women. The six men in Quebec were gunned down for being Muslim. Today we are adjusting to the fact that we are not the tolerant society we thought we were.

Mr. Speaker, these men were sons and brothers, husbands, and fathers. They were raising children, some of them just toddlers. One man owned a food store, another was a university prof, others worked for government. These men could have been our neighbours. They are you and me. I keep thinking of those men kneeling, feeling safe in their mosque, feeling comforted by the language of prayer and losing all of that in an instant. I understand that many Muslims don't feel safe because of what happened in Quebec and, before that, because of the chaos that President Trump has unleashed by banning Muslims from entering the United States. This attack is an act of hatred, the product of a domestic sub-culture of hatred. Intolerance promotes intolerance.

Last night we reassured our Muslim neighbours that their pain is our pain. Many of us stood in the Islamic Cultural Centre of Yellowknife and heard the end of their evening prayers. We were invited to share words of comfort and support. That was an important thing to do last night, but it can't be a one-off. We have to continue voicing our support for our Muslim neighbours and for leaders like Rami Kassem and Naziz Awan.

Many of us have contributed to efforts to bring immigrants and refugees to Yellowknife from Syria and other countries with large Muslim populations. We believe that most Canadians welcome and respect immigrants; after all, that's what most of us are. If these are indeed our values, we need to promote and protect them. We need to support government efforts to continue bringing people to Canada, to encourage and support diversity, and to steadfastly oppose actions motivated by hate. We also need to take a stand on discrimination. We need to name it and say it's not acceptable. We stand in solidarity with the Muslim community, here in Yellowknife and across the country, to mourn with them and assure them that we will do our part to ensure they are safe. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.