During the Quebec City mosque shooting, Aymen Derbali was left paralyzed after he stood in the line of fire in order to protect his fellow worshippers.

Now, nearly two years later, Derbali says it’s his duty to be in the courtroom when Alexandre Bissonnette is sentenced on Feb. 8. Bissonnette pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree murder and could face up to 150 years in jail.

“We have to bring justice to all the victims. This is a duty for me. To remember all my friends [and] all the worshippers who fell that night,” Derbali, who now requires the use of a motorized wheelchair, told CTV Montreal.

On Jan. 29, 2017, Bissonnette entered the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City and shot and killed eight worshippers, while wounding 19 others.

Derbali was shot seven times and would spend two months in an induced coma.

Upon waking up, Derbali learned he was paralyzed from the waist down and would never walk again. After spending the last 13 months living in a rehab centre, Derbali has been cleared to leave.

“I'm very lucky to be able to go back to my home, after this tragedy,” he said, adding he wants to stay positive and be strong for his family and his children.

Derbali’s family moved from their fourth-floor apartment to a bungalow which was specially adapted to his needs. The family was able to afford the new home after a groundswell of strangers’ online donations totalled more than $400,000.

He said he’s gained some ability to move his arms but still can’t move his fingers properly. His wife and mother-in-law both help him whenever it’s needed.

“But mentally and physically I feel better,” he said. “I feel better than one year ago.”

 

Mosque members have built bridges with community: Derbali

Since the shooting, Derbali said the Islamic community has focused on being even more involved with its community neighbours, which he called “very important.”

“We were a little bit closed,” he said, noting that some mosque members have built new relationships with other communities.

This outreach has included the mosque opening its doors for open houses, mosque members serving food at the local homeless shelter and leaders organizing multi-faith gatherings.

“We have to make more efforts … to show that we, as Muslims, are not closed as a community, “Derbali said. “We have to show that we are an open community towards all of society.”

The mosque’s president Boufeldja Benabdallah agreed and said bridge building and honouring the victims were both a part of the healing process.

“The commemoration is so important for the families,” he said. “They have to know that people [did] not forget this dramatic, tragic situation.”


Mosque leader calls for better gun screening

Last week, Benabdallah was at Quebec’s national assembly where Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault announced that the province was softening its long-gun registry requirements.

She’d said these looser conditions would encourage gun owners to sign on to registry before the deadline on Tuesday. Currently, 80 per cent of gun owners haven’t registered their firearms, with some even boycotting the process.

Benabdallah said it was crucial that the province have a better screening process to prevent people with mental health issues from obtaining firearms.

Court testimony revealed shooter Bissonnette had a history of mental health issues, including violent and suicidal thoughts.

“It's a lesson for the new government to put laws on these kinds of guns and weapons,” Benabdallah said. If gun owners fail to register, they could face fines of up to $5,000.

Derbali was disturbed that someone like Bissonnette had access to any gun.

“We have to rethink this process and we have to make it more difficult for a person to have weapons,” he said.