We witnessed two disturbing instances of intolerance recently. One left six people dead and many more injured. The other threw international travel into chaos and brought into doubt the very precepts that founded a country.
In Canada, the shooting at a Quebec mosque once again shattered Canada’s smug confidence of inclusion and diversity. While some were shaking their heads at President Donald Trump’s decision to implement strict travel restrictions on people coming from select Muslim countries, Muslims here were being shot down as they prayed.
Motives behind the Quebec City attack are still vague. What we do know is that a lone male, known to hold extreme views about immigration and refugees, opened fire during evening prayers.
The situation in the U.S. is more clear, but no less bewildering. Trump has made good his election promise to effectively ban people travelling to the Unites States from seven predominantly Muslim countries. He had made the promise in reaction to assertions that global terrorism was out of control, and that the ban was necessary until the government “can figure out what the hell is going on.”
Early on, Trump officials (and some American news channels) used the Quebec shooting to illustrate why a ban was warranted.
However, we now know that Alexandre Bissonnette, a 27-year-old student from Laval university, supported France’s far-right National Front Leader Marine Le Pen and was even a fan of Donald Trump.
Although the these two events are different, they share a xenophobic theme.
And while it is important to be vigilant in our security, irrational suspicions and fear of others rarely ends well.
Canada has a tradition of acceptance. The example of our neighbour to the south, and the actions of one man in Quebec cannot be allowed to change that.
