Charlie Hebdo sells out in Toronto

Second shipment expected soon

Many Canadians were anticipating the arrival of the latest edition of Charlie Hebdo last week, but left the store the same way they entered: empty-handed.

On Friday, about 1,500 copies of the magazine arrived in Canada, but only around 40 were sold at the Gateway Newstands at Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue, one of the few locations selling the magazine in Toronto.

“The first batch of the magazine we received completely sold out,” Gateway salesperson Ron Deguzman said. “We’re now waiting for the second shipment to come in.”

This is the first edition to be released since the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris two weeks ago. The cover shows a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad holding a sign that says “Je Suis Charlie,” and a title in French that translates as “All Is Forgiven.”

“We have people from L.A. calling us, asking if we can send them copies, but unfortunately we don’t even have enough for us,” Deguzman said.

Many people are anxiously waiting to hear about when the next batch will arrive, but Deguzman said they have not yet heard from suppliers and are not sure the news will come anytime soon. He said it was “chaos” when the first batch came in, and hopes it won’t be as bad next time.

“I want to get a copy just to stick it to the terrorists and show my support for freedom of speech and freedom of the press,” said Ryan Chatterjee, a student at Centennial College.

Around 5,000 more copies of Charlie Hebdo are expected to arrive in Canada. However they are also for sale on iPhone and Android apps.

About this article

By: Nazaneen Baqizada
Copy editor: Ethan Manninen
Posted: Jan 26 2015 12:16 pm
Edition:
Filed under: News
Multimedia:
Topics: