'Pain will not have the final word': Vigil held for victims of Salsa on St. Clair shooting

Roughly 100 people gathered to commemorate the two people killed and five injured at a popular St. Clair street festival on Saturday.

Pastor Miguel Rojas addressed roughly 100 people gathered outside St. Matthew’s United Church on Monday evening to commemorate the two people killed and five injured at a popular St. Clair street festival on Saturday. “As members of this community, we pray for peace and healing that this may never again happen on our street,” he said. The shooting near the Salsa on St. Clair street festival Saturday night sent thousands of festival-goers fleeing in panic through the streets in the city’s west end.

The two men shot dead at the Salsa on St. Clair festival were “targeted” and knew one another, Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw said Monday. They were identified Monday as 25-year-old Shaquan Quashie and Cesar Vernaza, 20. Pastor Rojas said the shootings were painful and unimaginable, and that the horror of violence and the loss of loved ones taken in a matter of seconds caused fear, pain and confusion.

“Gun violence destroys life and leaves wounds that can’t always be seen, but tonight we are not gathered only to remember tragedy. Pain will not have the final word,” he said, met with applause from the crowd of mourners that included Mayor Olivia Chow, Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles and City Councillor Josh Matlow (Toronto—St. Paul’s). Members of the media were asked not to speak to dignitaries at the vigil.

The vigil began with a sacred fire ceremony led by St. Matthew’s Elder-in-residence Catherine Brooks in the church’s garden. Mourners gathered in a circle around a fire, placing tobacco and cedar into the flames. The sacred fire represents spirit and life, and was part of the vigil because life was taken and broken, said Brooks.

“What we wanted to do was bring everybody together so they could reflect and let go of some of those big feelings and also renew our sense of community.” “We are here together, and our spirit is still strong, and we are going to be OK,” she said. To begin the vigil, Archdeacon A. Paul Feheley of St. Michael’s and All Angels Anglican Church placed the wick of a prayer candle into the fire, which he brought around the property into the church’s parking lot.

He lit the first of dozens of prayer candles that covered four folding tables near the church’s entrance. Next, Brooks delivered opening remarks holding a feather and a small pan filled with burning sage. St. Michael’s Pastor Jenni Feheley delivered remarks, read statements sent from other religious leaders in the area and invited mourners to light candles.

“Use that moment to beacon peace to the community,” she said. Resident Punam Khosla said she attended the vigil because she lives in the area and said the community needed to be in conversation following tragedy. “I think it’s really important that it is the community that comes together, strong, and talks about how we move forward,” she said, rather than just relying on a police and political response.

With files from Xavier Mesquita and Jennifer Pagliaro