Aymen Derbali (centre), is paralyzed and therefore can no longer live with his family in their 4th floor apartment. Canadians across the country are helping to raise the needed money for Derbali, who was gravely wounded in last January's Quebec City mosque attack.

Aymen Derbali (centre), is paralyzed and therefore can no longer live with his family in their 4th floor apartment. Canadians across the country are helping to raise the needed money for Derbali, who was gravely wounded in last January's Quebec City mosque attack.
Photo Credit: Submitted by DawaNet

Canadians come to financial aid of Quebec mosque attack victim

When a lone gunman walked into the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City last January 29th and opened fire, killing six worshippers and wounding 19 others, Aymen Derbali was both a victim and hero.

Now, he is relying on the kindness of strangers.

“Aymen had seen the shooter and he kind of went toward him. He wanted to stop him from shooting others and was hit seven times,” Amira Elghawaby, a volunteer with the Canadian-Muslim non-profit community organization DawaNet, told the CBC’s Sabrina Marandola.

“There are now two bullets lodged in his spinal cord.”

Derbali, a father three, remained in a coma for two months.

When he emerged, he could no longer walk. And never will again.

Soon, he will be released from a local rehabilitation centre and what his community says he needs most is a wheelchair-accessible home for him and his family.

Their current fourth-floor apartment simply can’t meet Derbali’s needs.

“At this point, his family doesn’t know where they will live. This is a Canadian hero. This is a man who was about to sacrifice his life…Now it is up to us and all of us as Canadians to help him and help his family,” says Elghawaby.

Failing to find the needed help from government sources, DawaNet last week launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $400,000 to find the suitable house.

A week later, the Globe and Mail reports, people across Canada have donated $124,000 ahead of a Jan. 28 deadline.

Donations have come mainly from Canada. As well, there have been contributions from people in Europe and the United States.

There are also plans to raise money by holding a benefit concert at the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Quebec City in March, a idea hatched by the Cathedral’s former choirmaster, Beatrice Cadrin.

“He literally sacrificed himself for the people around him,” Cadrin told the Globe and Mail’s Ingrid Peritz. “We have a moral responsibility toward the victims as a society.”

As for Derbali?

“I’ve always believed that most Canadians believe in solidarity and want to live in harmony,” he told the Globe. “I’ve never once regretted the day I asked for Canadian citizenship.”

The trial for the man who allegedly carried out the Quebec City mosque attack is set to begin in March.

Alexandre Bissonette faces six counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder while using a restricted firearm.

With files from CBC, Globe and Mail

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