Photo from www.theguardian.com
The lives of a Canadian family were upended on June 7th by a terror attack that could only be described as callous and cowardly. The family who was waiting at a street crossing were purposely mowed down by a driver described as a 20-year-old resulting in the deaths of four of the five family members leaving a 9-year-old boy fighting for his life in hospital. A 46-year-old and 44 years old, along with a 74-year-old and a teen of 15 years old were all killed when the driver jumped the curb hitting them.
As the story continues to evolve I'm sure we will learn more about the terrorist but all indications that we are getting are pointing to an intentional act of terror that has not only taken the lives of a family just living their Canadian lives but has now spread fear in other Canadian Muslims who are now taking extra precaution when going outside, taking that extra look behind their back to see who is around them and this should not happen in Canada.
And why? Why are we at this point?
As with the discovery of a mass grave of First Nation children found in Kamloops, the reaction to this terror attack in much the same where Canadians act surprised that there could be a mass grave of children who attended Catholic Residential Schools even though First Nations communities have long talked about kids who went missing over years. This is much the same as the Muslim community saying for years now that acts of racism continue against them in all shapes and forms for years. The Quebec City mosque attack should have been a national eye-opener when a terrorist killed 6 people and injured 5 others. Despite the political reaction and performative prayers what has the government done to protect Canadians of Muslim background?
The Quebec government under Francois Legault passed Bill 21 which bans anyone wearing religious symbols from working in the public space. Despite affecting all religious symbols, those of us who are from Quebec especially know that this bill is targeted at Muslim women who wear head coverings. This is a bill that Legault tries to pass off and say that the majority of Quebecers are for but do the majority of Quebecers want to create a 2nd class of citizenry who are not able to access good public jobs like working as a teacher or a lawyer because they wear their religious symbols? That is what Legault's government is saying and while they give the excuse that people wearing religious symbols will influence young kids we all know that is some bullshit. There is a fear and prejudice of Muslims in Canada that leads to what we say on June 7th and on January 29th, 2017 in a Quebec City mosque. Don't ask how can this happen in Canada when the rhetoric and the laws in some parts of the country give ignorance the pass it needs to continue hating even if it is only one person. We have witnessed what damage one person can do in Quebec and now London.
Normally I would say that this moment in time is going to be a teachable moment, a chance for people to start learning and stripping away hate from our society like peeling an onion. Yes, we will cry but once the crying is done and the words have been exchanged maybe we can be better. However, I'm not sure Canada or Quebec is up to it right now. We are too concerned with saying we are not like America, we are too concerned with saying that we don't act like them but people saying that willfully ignore the blatant acts of racism in Alberta directed at BLM supporters, Black folks getting spit on and jumped because they are Black. They ignore the Blackface that some in Quebec have no problem with despite calls against it. They ignore the institutionalized racism that continues to throw Black and kids of colour out of school quicker than White kids, straight into a Canadian system that lands them in jail at higher rates than Whites.
Sure, I'm just ranting at this moment but that's because the killing of this CANADIAN family based on what they look like tells me that we are exactly like America but we still stand across the street from America thinking we don't belong on the same sidewalk as her but in reality, we are standing shoulder to shoulder with her.
Just to conclude, we must acknowledge the good and positive steps that stem from such a tragedy. I noticed that right away politicians of all stripes have called this what it is which is a terror attack and based on racism. So often our leaders have been slow to do so and the importance of the unity of politicians to denounce this as terror will not be lost on efforts to combat these acts but words are not enough. The people who have the power to do things are the politicians, whether it be longer jail times, heavier fines, making life as uncomfortable for these terrorists as they make it for rapists. People who commit these reckless acts that change lives in an instant should not just serve their time and live back in society. Will this unfortunate tragedy be the start of something concrete? We will see.
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