The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

econ stsunftribune the terrorist attacks one year later thursday sept 52002 c attacks set back ethnic relations muslims bymikeadler staff writer if zaheer abbas karim could he would choose to live in the world as it was before the sept 1 1 terror ist attacks before he said people seemed less hesitant when dealing with muslims women wearing a hijab or veil and men with a bushy beard trav elled to the us without facing security checks so extensive many feel they can border on harass ment and muslims in york region had built up a rapport with their nonmuslim neighbours recalled mr karim a university student from richmond hill they werent ready to put the labels on the way they are now yet in the aftermath of the ter ror several muslim institutions in the area took a fresh opportunity to express and explain what true islam is a religion of peace and essentially the violent backlash which many muslims had feared on sept 1 1 did not hap pen here soon after the attacks students at the islamic shia study centre in vaughan were warned they could be potentially exposed to acts of misdirected harshness towards muslims in a letter that urged them to be the shining example that a muslim should be and to not return that harshness in the following months how ever children at the school and families at the jaffari islamic centre a shia mosque in thornhill have not reported any negative experiences linked to sept 11 said shabbir mohamed a staff file photomike adler worshippers pray during an interfaith service last year after the sept 1 1 attacks at the jaffari islamic centre in thornhill before the al qaeda terrorists launched their deadly us strikes people in york region were less hesitant in dealing with muslims said one resident spokesperson he pointed out many york region muslims are thirdgenera tion canadians and most were born and educated here this is their home they dont know any other home signs of strife were also absent between vaughans ahmadiyya muslim community concentrated around the baitulislam mosque in maple and its nonmuslim neighbours said dr ijaz qamar secretary for external relations for the ahmadiyya muslim comm unity of canada they havent raised any finger or caused any problems that i know he said community leaders say an increased police presence around mosques synagogues and other places of worship may have helped ward off potential threats york regional police statistics show however that reports of hate crimes did rise dramatically after al qaeda terrorists comman deered jetliners into the world trade centre in new york city and the pentagon in washington dc twentyfour hate crime inci dents were reported in september alone compared to a previous monthly average of four in october the number dropped to 11 and now it averages six per month said detconst brian cowie yrp hate crimes offi cer detconst cowie believes ethnic conflict in the region is more apparent than it was a year ago about 20 per cent of reported incidents are consistently targeted against the jewish community he said it is difficult to identify the number in which muslims are vic tims since records describe them as middle eastern detconst cowie said but weve had a few occur rences where muslims have been involved in mutual exchanges yelling arguments disputes where police had to attend which were totally based on religious differ ences kamil sadiq chief coordinator for the canadian federation of intercultural friendship believes some muslims were targeted for insults including women in muslim dress who were accosted in an area shopping mall and told go back to your country and youre all terrorists he said formed last year before the ter rorist attacks the cfif a markhambased organization pro moting crosscultural understand ing met police officials and talked with muslims in the region in an effort to reassure them about security with a membership from many religious and ethnic groups it con tinues its work mr sadiq said if we get to know people culturally we make good friends with files from linda fohnson for a free copy of discovering islam call the jaffari centre at 9058811763 how much has terrorism touched our daily lives from page 1 world in which our children are growing up at the same time however how much have the attacks touched our daily lives i remember the morning of the attacks how stunned coworkers were stilled as reports of the terror flooded into the office how it became evident that what at first appeared to be a horrible accident was a planned nightmare i remember driving that morn ing to cover the funeral of a popular newmarket teacher killed by her troubled schizophrenic son days before as i scanned the skies for the remote possibility of terrorist attack here i thought how one familys despair had been eclipsed by the unspeakable devastation south of the border i remember the night after the attack talking about the events with neighbours i recall one little boys terror when a car backfired down the street and he just kept screaming over and over theyre coming to kill us until we finally managed to divert his attention back to more childlike pursuits but as the hours after the attacks turned into days and then weeks and months we all went back to our lives while the soundtrack of sept 11 played relentlessly in the background we went to work sent our kids to school paid our bills got together with family and friends bickered about those who upset us planned our vacations ate our meals and slept at night then we got up in the morning and started the whole routine again experts say its not that people are indifferent to the attacks far from it the impact will reverberate for years to come but as the shock wore off sept 11 joined the long list of fears that bombard us these days west nile virus e coli job inse curity road rage child molesters crime global conflict it seems every month there is something new to worry about or to add to the cumulative assault on our psyches dr harold grossman clinical director of mental health at york central hospital in richmond hill said the terrorist attacks have left us with a psychological dichotomy a year later on one hand some people are still suffering from posttraumatic stress prey to the anxiety and hypervigilance that makes them feel as if they have little control over events in their lives that stress is compounded when confronted with triggers such as getting on a plane or hear ing about a new security threat to our borders i dont think theres any of us that could get on a plane and not think about what happened last year and check out other passen gers dr grossman said and then there are others who avoid flying altogether although they would have had little trouble getting on a plane before last sept 11 on the other hand he said peo ples ability to go on with their daily lives after the initial days and weeks after the attacks speaks to the human races amazing ability to adapt to even traumatic change as a species we can adapt we are adaptable even though our lives are radically different its part of our magic to adapt dr grossman said he also questions the longterm impact of sept 11 on our lives have we changed it has changed us no question but at the same time it hasnt really affected the structure of our daily lives has it he said the anniversary of the attacks poses some interesting questions im not sure we have the answers to them where beautiful homes begin 4747 hwy 7 monwed lofrpm east of kennedy thursfri io9pm markham 0 em saumlays 10 ijfc u t 905477 ivraoscd sunday