Canada in the twilight zone

Canada in the twilight zone
    by Maj (ret'd) CORNELIU E. CHISU, CD, PMSC,
FEC, CET, P. Eng.
Former Member of Parliament
Pickering-Scarborough East
A number of disturbing incidents have occurred in Canada lately, that make a mockery of our international reputation as a peaceful, welcoming society with freedom and equal justice for all.
The most recent one being the targeted killing of a family in London Ontario. Five members of a Muslim family went out for a walk on Sunday night. Before the day was done, four of them had lost their lives in what police described as a targeted hate crime. The only survivor - a nine-year-old boy - was seriously injured.
Then there was the Quebec City mosque shooting, a terrorist attack on the evening of January 29, 2017, at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, a mosque in the Sainte-Foy neighbourhood of Quebec City, Canada. Six worshippers were killed and five others seriously injured after evening prayers when a man entered the prayer hall shortly before 8:00 pm and opened fire for about 2 minutes with a 9-mm Glock pistol. 
The infamous Toronto van attack which was a terrorist vehicle-ramming attack that occurred on April 23, 2018, when a rented van was driven along Yonge Street through the North York City Centre business district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The driver targeted pedestrians, killing 10 and injuring 16, some critically. The attack is characterized as misogynist terrorism because it was motivated by revenge for perceived sexual and social rejection by women. The incident is the deadliest vehicle-ramming attack in Canadian history.
Add to all this, the recent violent demonstrations motivated by various political agendas, that are creating instability in a country which has previously had a reputation for being peaceful and welcoming.
As Canadians across the country express their shock, horror and grief, about these events, the dark reality is that all kinds of hate crimes and terrorist attacks are on a dangerous rise in Canada.
While Canada has been preoccupied with a pandemic that seems to have affected everything, most of us have forgotten that the rise in hate crimes is a real danger against religious beliefs, racial communities and Canadians in general.
Hate crimes speak of a different level of humanity, which judges a person for who they are and not what they have done.  They affirm that you have no place in this country and don't belong because of your race, country of origin, faith, or skin colour.  Hate crimes like these are the very antithesis of what this country claims to represent on the global stage.
We need to ask why these things have been happening in Canada lately, and determine the root causes so we can find remedies.
This new racially and religiously motivated hatred, never before encountered at this intensity in Canada, known to be a tolerant and welcoming country for many people, is a new and a dangerous phenomenon. If they continue without an imminent and workable solution, Canada as a country is finished.
I do not want to be a pessimist but as of today the Canadian political elite is only focusing on their own self interest to hold or gain power. The interest of the people and the nation is put on the backburner. They are a bunch of hypocrites looking only for their own personal ambitions and interests.
At this point Canada is a rudderless country and soon anarchy will be the common denominator in the lives of Canadians, if things do not see a radical change. 
Calls to banish Canada Day following the discovery of the remains of 215 children, buried in unmarked graves at the Kamloops residential school is gaining momentum.
Statues of John A. Macdonald and Egerton Ryerson, architects of the residential school system, have been removed by both fiat and brute force. Demands for an apology from the Catholic Church are growing ever louder.
While the pain behind these terrorist and dark historical events are undeniable, and those terrible acts that inspired them are inexcusable, we still need to maintain our national identity and recognize Canada's creation.
We need to remember that the history of Canada is not one long march of oppression. Canada has fought bravely against tyranny. Canadian troops, including Indigenous troops, gave their lives in not one, but two world wars to preserve our freedoms. Canadians battled the regime of Nazi Germany, which committed the worst genocide of our era, in which six million Jews were slaughtered.
Over two centuries, Canada has also welcomed the downtrodden and oppressed to its shores. From Irish migrants starving during the Great Famine, to Doukhobors fleeing religious persecution, to refugees from conflicts in Vietnam, Rwanda, and Syria, Canada has taken in millions of people in search of a better life.
The reason was simple: Canada was a country that stood for freedom, equality and opportunity. Those values are enshrined in our charter and in the best of our history and we need to preserve and maintain them to be proud Canadians and keep our nation great.
Political correctness, lip service to justice and fairness and turning a selective blind eye only create more resentment while driving true emotions underground to fester and boil over in time.  We need to strive for a society where everyone can depend on the justice system to abide by the laws that created this country, and a police force to fairly enforce them.  A society where everyone has an equal chance to succeed based on the merit of his/her performance, not his/her color, creed, religion or origins.  And we need to teach our children that our precious individual freedom is not free.  It comes with the corresponding responsibility to stand up for it. 
As of now there is a lot of work to be done in this country, significant and essential work in order to eliminate hatred, bias, superficiality and to build a new confidence in our countrymen. It must be done not just in our legislatures but in our neighbourhoods and institutions, in our homes and our own heads.
It is a social pandemic that will outlast Covid-19, and the fate and reputation of Canada hangs in the balance.