Community News Update - January 29, 2021

Dear Community,

Today, we remember the six men who were murdered four years ago in a terrorist attack on the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City. Their deaths are a solemn reminder that it is up to all of us to take action to address Islamophobia, hate, and racism in our communities.

May they rest in peace.

Mamadou Tanou Barry
Azzedine Soufiane 
Abdelkrim Hassane
Ibrahima Barry
Aboubaker Thabti
Khaled Belkacemi

I also want to extend a special thank you to the Women’s Mosque of Canada for hosting a vigil tonight to remember the victims of this heinous attack. If you’re interested in finding out more about their work, check out their website here.

As we begin another weekend, I want to encourage everyone to try and find some time for self-care.
We may never fully be able to quantify the impact that COVID-19 is having on us right now, and the psychological impacts of the events that we are all living through cannot be overstated. So whether it’s reading your favourite book, calling a friend you haven’t spoken to in while, or making your favourite meal – take some time for you.

On the note of self-care, last night, I was happy to join Rachelle and Michelle from ‘being here, human’ for a discussion about mental health and grief during COVID-19. I want to thank them for participating in the event, as their insights were incredibly valuable. 

If you missed it, you can watch the entire replay here.
In COVID-19 news, we have reported another 1837 cases of COVID-19 in Ontario, with 595 of those cases in Toronto. This continues our downward trend, with the new seven-day rolling average standing at 2010. While our case numbers are still down from a couple of weeks ago, it’s important that we all stay focused on doing everything we can to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community.
So let’s all commit once again to wearing our masks, washing our hands, and limiting all non-essential trips out of our homes.

One of the key COVID-19 challenges that we’re facing here in Toronto continues to be over-crowding on our public transit system. Many essential workers don’t have the luxury of working at home, and as a result, are still commuting to their workplaces. This week, I was able to join the team at Metro Morning for a conversation about this unique challenge and issue a call for increased funding for municipal transit systems to reduce crowding during the pandemic.

This coming Monday will be the start of Black History Month, and this morning I was happy to speak on Newstalk 1010 about Black History Month, and what it means to me, and it has inspired me to issue a call out today – to ask the same question to our community.
What does Black History Month mean to you?

If you would like to reply please email your response to [email protected] or [email protected]!

In Solidarity,


Jill Andrew
MPP for Toronto—St. Paul's

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