Dear Federal Government,
May I call you Feds? I sincerely hope you don’t try to exploit recent events in Canada for political gain, and to further limit civil liberties through national security overshoot.
I’m concerned you’re going to go all Shock Doctrine on us and leverage pre-Halloween headlines like “Canada under siege from within” and “Homegrown terror strikes at the heart of Canada” into a windfall for the military-security-prison complex.
Do we want the rest of the world to mistake this nation for a frozen expanse of shivering, quivering wusses, who fold like cheap lawn furniture the moment a deranged person takes a soldier’s life and an armed run at Parliament?
The violent death of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was a tragedy, that is undeniable. But it troubles me to see you and our national media squeeze his profile for every last telegenic ounce of militarism.
On the very day of the attack, you were planning to table new legislation to increase the powers of CSIS and other police organizations to spy on and arrest Canadians. Conspiracy theorists can bash that factoid back and forth with coincidence theorists, but wouldn’t it be better to increase security on Parliament — more cops, barricades, perhaps gun turrets on the gargoyles — than to go bonkers with surveillance measures on your own citizens and repeat the mistakes of our neighbours to the south?
I keep hearing about these “homegrown terrorists” as if they are some kind of indestructible weed. Muslims represent 3.2 per cent of the Canadian population, Feds. Are we to seriously believe that ISIS and other terror networks have poisoned the minds of a small percentage of this small percentage, through trackable social media sites, to the degree they now present an existential threat to democracy itself?
Or are you expecting the Islamic caliphate to zoom down the St. Lawrence in zodiacs, guns blazing and keffiyehs rippling, after crossing the Atlantic? (Perhaps then we’d have a momentary problem, just before a Halifax-class frigate blows them to smithereens.)
There’s no denying that there are dangerous people out there who need to be monitored. But let’s not forget the average Canadian still has a better chance of drowning in the bathtub or being hit by lightning than dying in a terrorist attack. If you were to attach a threat level to actual fatalities, it would make more sense to declare war on tobacco, alcohol, automobiles, fast food, or physician-prescribed drugs, which collectively kill thousands of Canadians every year.
But no, you’re going to war against an abstract noun with a rubbery acronym. ISIL, ISIS, or IS: what is it now? Every other week, the newsrooms get another memo.
And then there’s you two: Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and NDP leader Thomas Mulcair. Why aren’t you pointing out that air strikes on Iraq and Syria will result in more casualties among innocent people while swelling the ranks of terrorist groups? Has the attack on Parliament scared you both into full compliance with Harper’s majority? (I know getting a one-armed hug from the PM would certainly send a chill down my spine.)
If you seriously want to reduce the risk of future terror attacks, Feds, you would be well advised to stop taking part in the U.S. government’s endless wars of aggression and redirect our tax money elsewhere. As British journalist Simon Jenkins recently observed, “for the price of a bombed pick-up truck you can feed a refugee camp for a year.”
“The objective of these attacks was to instill fear and panic in our country,” Harper said one day after the attack on Parliament, even as the narrative was still taking shape of a homeless, crack-using, Facebooking, Muslim-converted Canadian who reportedly held up a McDonald’s to get back into jail. Feds, you can defeat this apparent objective by refusing to turn Canada in a fearful, panicky place.
Alas, Justice Minister Peter Mackay has indicated that new anti-terror powers will include measures for the “preventative detention” of suspected would-be terrorists. Guilty until proven innocent, in other words. Thoughtcrime.
Contrast this with the words of Green Party leader Elizabeth May, who insists “we must ensure that this appalling act of violence is not used to justify a disproportionate response.”
That’s one voice of sanity on Parliament Hill. I really want to hear others, Feds.
Sincerely,
Geoff Olson
geoffolson.com
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geoffolson.com
