Ameya Charnalia
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Liban Ali participated Wednesday in a candlelight vigil in Edmonton for Abdirahman Abdi, 37, who died following an altercation with Ottawa police July 24. AMEYA CHARNALIA / POSTMEDIA
Dozens of people converged at Centennial Plaza in downtown Edmonton Wednesday to remember an Ottawa man who died following an altercation with police.
The Edmonton-area chapter of Black Lives Matter held a candlelight vigil to honour Abdirahman Abdi, whose death on July 24 sparked protests across the country against police brutality.
Ontario’s Special Investigation Unit, or SIU, similar to Alberta’s police watchdog, is investigating the conduct of Ottawa police officers Dave Weir and Daniel Montsion in the death of Abdi, 37, a black man of Somali descent.
The unit is an arm’s length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.
Between 35 to 40 people, including members of Edmonton’s Somali community, attended the vigil, including Liban Ali, a program co-ordinator at the Somali Canadian Education and Rural Development Organization.
Ali, who helped organize the event, has known the Abdi family for from the time they were neighbours in Ethiopia.
“It was really hurtful,” Ali said recalling the moment he heard news of Abdi’s death. “We need justice for Abdirahman Abdi and his family.”
The family is devastated, said Ali, who believes that the death of Abdi was racially motivated.
“If he was a white guy, I’m 100 per cent sure that, you know, he would not be (dead).”
If these type of incidents can happen in Ottawa, they can happen anywhere in Canada, said Kassia Haynes, communications lead for the Edmonton area chapter of Black Lives Matter.
“Out here in Edmonton, we have a large Somali community and overall even the black community is concerned,” Haynes said.
“We feel that the issues that caused the death of Mr. Abdi are systemic and are because of state violence.”
The vigil was held in conjunction with rallies occurring nationwide, including one that took place outside SIU headquarters in Mississauga, Ont.
Black Lives Matter Toronto submitted a list of nine demands, supported by the Edmonton area chapter, to the SIU prior to the rally.
Among them was a call for charges to be laid against Montsion and Weir and a public release of the SIU report into the death of Abdi.
Before the vigil ended in Edmonton, those gathered at the plaza wrote sympathy letters to the Abdi family, signed condolence cards, and drafted letters to elected officials.