Download the Press Release HERE
To the University of Lethbridge community,
On Sunday, June 6th, we were horrified and angry to hear of yet another act of
violence and terrorism towards the Muslim Community in Canada. This time the
act of violence took the lives of four Pakistani-Canadian-Muslims. The family
was going for a walk, when a white supremist made the choice to act on their
hatred towards those of the Muslim Faith and ended the lives of four members of
this beautiful family. The mother, father, grandmother and sister leave behind
a young 9-year-old boy who is currently hospitalized and is facing a future
without his family. This act of hatred is added onto a long list of
Islamophobic attacks towards the Muslim community, especially in the last year.
We at the ULSU stand firmly against racism and intolerance, and support and
stand in solidarity with our Muslim classmates and community members. While the
most recent act of terror occurred in Ontario, we know that Alberta has also
seen a rise in hate crimes towards Muslim women, and this is unacceptable.
Everyone deserves the right to be able to live their lives, without fear. We
must all actively be anti -racist and stand united against the hatred that
breeds acts of terror such as the one that took the lives of this family and
have harmed people across Canada.
Our campus is diverse, and every person should be respected, and protected no
matter their religious belief. The best thing we can do, to support each
other, is to continually educate ourselves and each other on our differences.
Our differences should be celebrated, and in a campus as diverse as ours, we
have a great opportunity to learn and end the cycles of misunderstanding and
hatred that often exist without us even knowing it. We can end hate crimes if
we make the choice to unite in our differences, instead of letting them divide
us. The ULSU is actively working to ensure that our campus and community
remains a safe space for all peoples. We send our love and support to the
family of those we lost, and we especially send our love and strength to the
young boy and hope he can feel it as he heals and continues his life, without
his family. We stand in solidarity with the Muslim community and send our love
and support as we all grieve this loss. We are here to support you.
If you are feeling unsafe on campus, Campus Security can be contacted at 403 –
329 – 2345. The uLethbridge Safe app is downloadable, and security is easily
contactable from that app as well. For mental health support, email
health.centre@uleth.ca. Don’t suffer alone, please reach out. We are all here
to support you.
Yours in solidarity,
Holly Kletke, President
Madina Ali, Arts and Science Representative
Ryan Lindblad, Vice-President External
Amy Mendenhall, Vice-President Student Affairs
Rebecca Parkkari, Vice-President Academic
Mark Serebryansky, Vice-President Operations and Finance
