Quebec City mosque to be safer, with 'classic and modern' look, after $1.2M renovation

The brown brick and opaque windows of the Quebec Mosque will be replaced in 2020 by a clean, brightfaade, marking a new chapter for Muslim worshippers in Quebec City.

The building in the borough of Sainte-Foy is currently undergoing major renovations, estimated at $1.2 million, that will make the place of worshipsafer and create morespace for the growing number of worshippers, according to the mosque's former president, Mohamed Labidi.

"It is comforting after everything we went through, we need to have some happy moments," said Labidi.

It will be three years on Jan. 29 since six men were killed and five others injuredwhen a gunman entered the mosque and started shooting into the crowded room.

Even before the tragic event, renovations hadbeen in the works, but Labidi said the attack only reinforced the "need to make the building safer."

In the months that followed the shooting, electronic access codes were added to the front doors, which until thenhad been unlocked, as the building was always opento the public.

The current renovations are expected to be completed by the end ofJune.

Additional entranceways will allow people to circulate more freely. A "buffer zone," with a large foyer, will also separate the entrancefrom the main prayer room.

The expansion will make roomfor approximately 300 additional worshippers, on the building's three levels.

"On Fridays, allourfloors are full. It's hard to find an empty space, so it's necessary," said Labidi, who is now on the mosque's board of directors.

He said the mosque already had "a comfortable cushion" of funds at its disposal to begin construction workbut is still raising moneyacross Quebec and Canada.

The organization had to juggle the renovation with another major project, the establishment of aMuslim cemetery in the region. Thatproject, a $200,000 investment, was officially approved by the city in December 2019.

Redesignmore in tune with building's vocation

The mosque currently lookslike anondescriptcommercial building. Once it is remodelled, it willinclude architectural elements more in tune with itsreligious vocation,according to Kamel Kheroua, an architectural adviser on the project.

Ornate designs over the doorways will add a"classic and modern" look to the mosque, saidKheroua.

A minaret will soon toweroverthe front entrance, mirroring the ruins of the steeple of the former parish church, Notre-Dame-de-Foy, the burnt-out shell of which stands across the street.

"We were inspired by the church next door. It will build a kind of link, in a way," Kheroua said.

The ruins of the church, destroyed in a fire in 1977,will also be the site ofan art installation promised by the city in 2019,which is tobe inaugurated in the coming months.

The memorial will be set up on either side of De l'gliseStreet and will include stone pillarsto honour each of the six shooting victims:IbrahimaBarry, Mamadou 'Tanou' Barry,KhaledBelkacemi,AbdelkrimHassane, Azzedine Soufiane and AboubakerThabti.

'More intimate' commemorative event

This Jan. 29 willmarkthree years since the shooting.

The third anniversary will focus on citizens rather than political speeches, according to the organizers of the event, called Commmoration citoyenne de l'attentat du 29 janvier 2017.

The first two anniversaries, held outdoors in 2018 and inside a pavilion at Universit Laval in 2019, included speeches from Mayor Rgis Labeaume and other politicians and dignitaries.

Organizers are hoping this time for a"more intimate"event, "to focus on what brings us together," said spokesperson Maryam Bessiri.

The gathering will be held at Saint-Mathieu Churchon Ste-Foy Roadat 6 p.m., on Wednesday, Jan.29, 2020.

Traditional food from North Africa and Guinea, the placeswhere the victims were born, will be served throughout the evening, said Besiri.

"We figured that food is something that bring people together."

The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Citizens who wish to attend must reserve tickets through the organization's Facebook page.