Newfoundland and Labrador Muslims Remember Community Support in Years After 9/11

Twenty five years after the September 11 attacks transformed public attitudes toward Muslims around the world, members of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Muslim community are reflecting on both the fear that followed the tragedy and the support they received from their neighbours.

Haseen Khan, president of the Muslim Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, remembers September 11, 2001, as a moment of profound shock and disbelief. He described the attacks as a devastating wound that continues to affect people decades later.

Khan said the loss of innocent lives was difficult to comprehend and that the attacks had consequences far beyond the immediate destruction in New York and Washington. For Muslims, the tragedy also created a painful association between their faith and the actions of extremists who claimed to act in its name.

The aftermath brought anxiety and uncertainty to Muslim communities across North America. As public fear increased, Muslims in different parts of Canada experienced discrimination, threats and hate crimes.

A report released in the years following the attacks documented a dramatic increase in reported anti Muslim incidents in Canada. The figures reflected a broader atmosphere of suspicion that affected Muslim families, workers, students and communities.

For Newfoundland and Labrador, however, Khan remembers a different and more reassuring experience in many respects.

The province’s Muslim population was much smaller in 2001 than it is today. The community had grown from only about 50 people in 1989, gradually becoming a more established and visible part of life across the province.

Khan said residents of Newfoundland and Labrador frequently responded to difficult moments with compassion and solidarity. That support helped Muslims feel that they were not alone during a period when Islamophobia was becoming a serious concern across North America.

One of the most powerful examples came years later after the deadly attack at a mosque in Quebec City in January 2017.

Following the shooting, people in St. John’s gathered outside the local mosque and formed a human chain around the building while Muslims attended prayers. The gesture was intended to demonstrate that members of the wider community stood with their Muslim neighbours and would not tolerate hatred.

For Khan, that response remains an important memory.

He said the message from local residents was clear: Muslims should feel safe, supported and welcome in the province. That public solidarity provided what he described as reassurance and confidence for members of the community.

The response also demonstrated how relationships built between different faith and cultural groups can become especially important during periods of fear or uncertainty.

Khan believes the province’s history of community support offers an example of how societies can respond to prejudice. Rather than allowing acts of violence and extremism to create permanent divisions, communities can choose to strengthen relationships and protect one another.

The Muslim community in Newfoundland and Labrador has continued to grow substantially over the past several decades. A new mosque in St. John’s opened in 2025, reflecting the increasing size and permanence of the Muslim population in the province.

The growth has also brought greater opportunities for Muslims and members of other communities to interact through workplaces, schools, neighbourhoods, cultural organizations and interfaith initiatives.

Khan said the anniversary of September 11 should not only be viewed through the tragedy itself. It should also encourage reflection on what happened afterward and how communities responded to the challenges that emerged.

He believes religious and community leaders have an important responsibility to encourage dialogue and build relationships between people of different backgrounds.

Understanding differences, he said, does not require people to abandon their own beliefs or identities. Instead, stronger communities are created when people learn to respect one another while finding areas where they can work together.

For Newfoundland and Labrador’s Muslim community, the support received from neighbours after September 11 and during later moments of crisis remains an important part of that story.

The experience also serves as a reminder that public acts of solidarity can have a lasting impact. A simple gesture of support can help people who feel vulnerable regain a sense of security and belonging.

As the 25th anniversary of September 11 is marked, Khan hopes the lessons of the past will encourage greater cooperation between religious and cultural communities.

His vision is for future generations to inherit communities where differences are understood rather than feared and where people respond to division by building stronger connections.

For Newfoundland and Labrador, the story of the years after September 11 is therefore not only one of prejudice and fear. It is also a story of neighbours standing together, offering reassurance and demonstrating that compassion can be stronger than hatred.