Chapter 84: Quebec City

323      slayed six . . . injured more than a dozen others . . . evening prayers  Adam Kovac, “Alleged Anti-Immigrant Suspect Charged in Quebec Mosque Shooting,” USA Today, January 30, 2017, updated January 31, 2017, www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/01/30/quebec-canada-mosque-attack-terrorism/97233660; and Rachel Watts, “7 Years After Deadly Mosque Attack, Quebec City Community Focuses on Fostering Harmony,” CBC News, January 29, 2024, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/7-years-after-mosque-attack-quebec-city-muslim-community-1.7096049.
 
323      conveyed . . . little interest . . . until March 2016 Les Perreaux and Eric Andrew-Gee, “Quebec City Mosque Attack Suspect Known as Online Troll Inspired by French Far-Right,” January 30, 2017, www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-city-mosque-attack-suspect-known-for-right-wing-online-posts/article33833044.
 
323      That month . . . visited . . . Quebec City. After her trip . . . online and in person  Perreaux and Andrew-Gee, “Quebec City Mosque Attack Suspect Known as Online Troll Inspired by French Far-Right,” www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-city-mosque-attack-suspect-known-for-right-wing-online-posts/article33833044.
 
323      opposed immigration . . . “changed neighbourhoods” . . . “increased unemployment” Quoted in Andy Riga, “Inside the Life of Quebec Mosque Killer Alexandre Bissonnette,” (Montreal) Gazette, April 23, 2018, montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/alexandre-bissonnette-inside-the-life-of-a-mass-murderer.
 
323      for Le Pen, the Israeli Defense Forces, and Canada’s New Democratic Party Kevin Dougherty, “Quebec Mosque Shooting Suspect Was a Fan of Donald Trump and Marine le Pen,” The Independent, January 31, 2017, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/quebec-city-mosque-shooting-latest-alexandre-bissonnette-donald-trump-marine-le-pen-facebook-social-media-murder-a7554451.html.
 
323      lowering prescription drug costs . . . the federal minimum wage  New Democratic Party (NDP), Building the Country of Our Dreams: Tom Mulcair’s Plan to Bring Change to Ottawa, 2015, www.poltext.org/sites/poltext.org/files/plateformesV2/Canada/CAN_PL_2015_NDP_en.pdf, iii, iv, 19.
 
323        “to help reunite families and support refugees”  NDP, Building the Country of Our Dreams, www.poltext.org/sites/poltext.org/files/plateformesV2/Canada/CAN_PL_2015_NDP_en.pdf, 8.
 
323      “greater priority on family reunification” NDP, Building the Country of Our Dreams, www.poltext.org/sites/poltext.org/files/plateformesV2/Canada/CAN_PL_2015_NDP_en.pdf, 9.
 
323       “restore the Interim Federal Health Care Program . . .”  NDP, Building the Country of Our Dreams, www.poltext.org/sites/poltext.org/files/plateformesV2/Canada/CAN_PL_2015_NDP_en.pdf, 9.
 
324      obsessively visited . . . and Fox News host Laura Ingraham Amanda Coletta, “Quebec City Mosque Shooter Scoured Twitter for Trump, Right-Wing Figures Before Attack,” Washington Post, April 18, 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/04/18/quebec-city-mosque-shooter-scoured-twitter-for-trump-right-wing-figures-before-attack.
 
324      ninety-three times in the weeks leading up  Coletta, “Quebec City Mosque Shooter Scoured Twitter for Trump, Right-Wing Figures Before Attack,” www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/04/18/quebec-city-mosque-shooter-scoured-twitter-for-trump-right-wing-figures-before-attack.
 
324      seemingly . . . more than Donald Trump’s Reporter Andy Riga wrote, “The contents of Bissonnette’s computer indicate the killer . . . was a fan of Donald Trump, obsessively reading about the U.S. president and a travel ban he imposed on seven Muslim-majority countries two days before the shooting. He searched for Trump-related material 819 times over the month before the attack.” Riga, “Inside the Life of Quebec Mosque Killer Alexandre Bissonnette,” montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/alexandre-bissonnette-inside-the-life-of-a-mass-murderer.
 
324      shared . . . with his father  Riga, “Inside the Life of Quebec Mosque Killer Alexandre Bissonnette,” montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/alexandre-bissonnette-inside-the-life-of-a-mass-murderer.
 
324      “No, he has had black friends” Raymond Bissonnette quoted in Riga, “Inside the Life of Quebec Mosque Killer Alexandre Bissonnette,” montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/alexandre-bissonnette-inside-the-life-of-a-mass-murderer.
 
324      sentenced Dylann Roof to death  Roof’s formal sentencing was held on January 11. U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of South Carolina, “Federal Jury Sentences Dylann Storm Roof to Death,” press release, January 10, 2017, www.justice.gov/usao-sc/pr/federal-jury-sentences-dylann-storm-roof-death.
 
324      searched online 201 times for details about Roof  Julia Page, “Alexandre Bissonnette Watched Videos of Mass Murders before Quebec City Mosque Attack, Court Hears,” CBC News, April 6, 2018, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/bissonnette-video-searches-1.4608853.
 
324      announced his travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries Donald J. Trump, “Executive Order Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,” The White House, January 27, 2017, trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-protecting-nation-foreign-terrorist-entry-united-states/; and Jeremy Diamond, “Trump’s Latest Executive Order: Banning People from 7 Countries and More,” CNN, January 29, 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/01/27/politics/donald-trump-refugees-executive-order.
 
324      gripped the world  Laura Smith-Spark, “Protesters Rally Worldwide in Solidarity with Washington March,” CNN, January 21, 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/01/21/politics/trump-women-march-on-washington/index.html.
 
324      march co-chair “Linda Sarsour,” Archives of Women’s Political Communication, Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, Iowa State University, accessed October 29, 2025, awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/directory/linda-sarsour/.
 
324      prepared to be the lead plaintiff . . . unsuccessful Sarsour filed suit on January 30, nine days after the Women’s March. See Jamie Kessler et al., “Case: Sarsour v. Trump,” Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, accessed October 29, 2025, clearinghouse.net/case/15603/.
 
324      “radical Muslims” . . . “dark, powerful, hidden force” . . . the Women’s March  Conspiracy website visited by Bissonnette quoted in Riga, “Inside the life of Quebec mosque killer Alexandre Bissonnette,” montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/alexandre-bissonnette-inside-the-life-of-a-mass-murderer.
 
324      not stop until . . . wearing hijabs  Riga, “Inside the Life of Quebec Mosque Killer Alexandre Bissonnette,” montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/alexandre-bissonnette-inside-the-life-of-a-mass-murderer.
 
324–325 announcement . . . denied entry into the U.S. Justin Trudeau, Twitter, January 28, 2017, 3:20 p.m.,x.com/JustinTrudeau/status/825438460265762816; and Riga, “Inside the Life of Quebec Mosque Killer Alexandre Bissonnette,” montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/alexandre-bissonnette-inside-the-life-of-a-mass-murderer.
 
325      “I saw that and I, like, lost my mind”  Alexandre Bissonnette quoted in Coletta, “Quebec City Mosque Shooter Scoured Twitter for Trump, Right-Wing Figures Before Attack,”www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/04/18/quebec-city-mosque-shooter-scoured-twitter-for-trump-right-wing-figures-before-attack.
 
325         “It was then that I decided it was time to go” Bissonnette quoted in Coletta, “Quebec City Mosque Shooter Scoured Twitter for Trump, Right-Wing Figures Before Attack,” www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/04/18/quebec-city-mosque-shooter-scoured-twitter-for-trump-right-wing-figures-before-attack.
 
325      worried Muslim refugees . . . to murder his relatives  Riga, “Inside Life of Quebec Mosque Killer Alexandre Bissonnette,” montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/alexandre-bissonnette-inside-the-life-of-a-mass-murderer.
 
325      “condemn Islamophobia and all forms . . .”  Iqra Khalid in Canada, House of Commons Debates (Hansard), 42nd Parl., 1st. sess., vol. 148, no. 141 (February 15, 2017), www.ourcommons.ca/Content/House/421/Debates/141/HAN141-E.PDF, 8992.
 
325      “Why are we focusing on only one religion? . . .”  Maxime Bernier quoted in “Conservative Leadership Candidate Maxime Bernier Makes his B.C. pitch,” CBC News, February 17, 2017, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/conservative-leadership-candidate-maxime-bernier-makes-his-b-c-pitch-1.3987730.
 
325      was agreed to . . . still voted against it  House of Commons Canada, “Vote No. 237,” 42nd Parl., 1st. sess., March 23, 2017, accessed May 6, 2025, www.ourcommons.ca/Members/en/votes/42/1/237.
 
325      As did Pierre Poilievre . . . eighty-nine other . . .  House of Commons Canada, “Vote No. 237,” 42nd Parl., 1st. sess., March 23, 2017, accessed May 6, 2025, www.ourcommons.ca/Members/en/votes/42/1/237.
 
325      unanimous support from Conservative MPs Canada, House of Commons Debates (Hansard), 41st Parl., 2nd. sess., vol. 147, no. 179 (February 25, 2015), www.ourcommons.ca/Content/House/412/Debates/179/HAN179-E.PDF, 11676.
 
325      “an alarming increase in anti-Semitism worldwide”  Irwin Colter in Canada, House of Commons Debates (Hansard), 41st Parl., 2nd. sess., vol. 147, no. 179 (February 25, 2015), www.ourcommons.ca/Content/House/412/Debates/179/HAN179-E.PDF, 11676; and Canada, House of Commons Journals, 41st Parl., 2nd. sess., no. 179 (February 25, 2015), www.ourcommons.ca/documentviewer/en/41-2/house/sitting-179/journals.   
 
325       “the combating of anti-Semitism . . . priority”  Colter in Canada, House of Commons Debates (Hansard), 41st Parl., 2nd. sess. (February 25, 2015), www.ourcommons.ca/Content/House/412/Debates/179/HAN179-E.PDF, 11676.
 
325      “evil monster”  “Poilievre Reflects on Quebec City Mosque Attack 7 Years On, Parliament Holds Moment of Silence,” Global News, video, January 29, 2024, globalnews.ca/video/10258461/poilievre-reflects-on-quebec-city-mosque-attack-7-years-on-parliament-holds-moment-of-silence, 00:16–00:17.
 
325        “the promise of freedom, peace, and safety” . . . “viciously stolen . . . and neighbors”  “Poilievre Reflects on Quebec City Mosque Attack 7 Years On, Parliament Holds Moment of Silence,” globalnews.ca/video/10258461/poilievre-reflects-on-quebec-city-mosque-attack-7-years-on-parliament-holds-moment-of-silence, 00:18–00:35.