Candlelight Vigil Held for Victims of IS

Posted April 27, 2015

On April 26, 2014, The Ethiopian-Canadian Community Association in Edmonton organized a vigil to honour our brothers who were senselessly slaughtered in Libya and expressed our anguish and total disgust to this gruesome act. We also paid tribute to our brothers and sisters who were brutally murdered in South Africa by xenophobic mobs directing their misplaced anger on innocent African immigrants. Ours solidarity and prayers also went to those who have found themselves in grave danger trying to flee an untenable life in their homeland and perished in the Mediterranean Sea.

What made this vigil special was the galvanization of numerous communities in recognition of their common problems and realizing that we are only as strong as our combined efforts in demanding that the most basic of our rights be respected. The demand for the respect of human life and the pursuit of a decent living is as basic as it gets. On this occasion we would like to express our appreciation for all the cooperation we received leading up to the event and during the ceremony. We are particularly grateful to our religious leaders whose insightful words were a source of comfort to all of us. We would also like to thank our political representatives who made time available for this important occasion to be with us and show their alliance in our effort to stop this carnage.

The Ethiopian-Canadian Association in Edmonton believes that a continued vigilance is required in demanding the prevention of any similar incidents anywhere in the world. To this end, we circulated a petition at the vigil which was signed by more than 300 people.