Afraid of shadows

(July 2) - We’ve now put 141 Canada Days behind us. Seven since the catastrophic events of September 11 2001. What has come to characterize the state of our nation in the years since those terrible crimes were unleashed in New York? It isn’t the sight of Canadian troops on patrol in Kandahar. They are bravely fighting a fight the politicians should never have joined. The sooner they are brought home the better.

The defining image of our country is unfolding in a courthouse down the 401. It’s not pleasant. If you have been following the news, you will know that a young man is on trial in Brampton accused of plotting the downfall of our country. He is the first Canadian to be brought before a judge under the Anti-Terrorism Act, and he has been held in jail since 2006.

Also, if you have been following the news, you will know the evidence against him is flimsy at best. He was apparently one in a group of young men whose minds were shaped in equal parts by their video games and by their religion. Like many others in their age group, they said foolish things and concocted unrealistic fantasies.

We are not fighting terror. We have fallen under its spell.

Who in their right minds would ever believe that they would ever get close enough to behead the Prime Minister? Who could believe that Rockwood Conservation Area would be used as a jihadist training camp?

Only one thing gave this absurdity any credibility at all. The kids are Muslims.

After September 2001, our politicians became sudden converts to the precautionary principle. They never bought into it in all the years that thousands of new chemicals were introduced to workplaces. When unions asked that they be banned until they are proven safe, the politicos said it can’t be done. The same thing when environmentalists argued that pesticides should be banned if they can’t be proven safe. The politicians stood firm in their rejection of caution. But show them a Muslim with a preposterous plan and they go all weak in the knees.

We haven’t just become afraid of Muslims. We’ve become afraid of shadows.

We talk tough but behave weakly. We imprison people not for what they have done, but for what we are afraid they might do. Public policy is set by the bureaucrat with the most vivid imagination. When that happens, we lose our direction as a nation.

For further evidence, look at the cases of Brenda Martin and Omar Khadr.

Martin was arrested and imprisoned in Mexico in 2006. She was charged and eventually convicted of money laundering. During her trial, the Canadian government intervened on her behalf. After her conviction, the Canadian government paid a fine for her and sent a private jet to bring her home. She was held briefly in Kitchener then released on parole.

Khadr has been in the American prison at Guantanamo Bay since 2002. Conditions there are far worse than anything found in any Mexican prison. He is the only Canadian there. Britain and Australia secured the release of their nationals from Guantanamo. Canada has not even tried to do so.

It makes you wonder. Martin and Khadr were both born in Canada. They were both arrested and imprisoned under harsh conditions in a foreign country. They both steadfastly maintain they are not guilty. What difference is there between them? For one thing, Martin was 49 years old when she was arrested, Khadr was 15. For another, Martin has been convicted and Khadr hasn’t. Other than that, what difference is there? Yes indeed. It makes you wonder.

It doesn’t have to be like this. We can do better. We have put 141 Canada Days behind us. While it hasn’t been an unblemished history, it was mostly peaceful. There was a bad patch near the beginning when Louis Riel led the Métis rebellions. Back in 1885 the government regarded him as a leader of a terrorist organization and sent him to the gallows. Today he is considered a hero, the father of Manitoba.

That’s the trouble with a war on terror. We can’t define the enemy, so we imagine it. Then it changes shape, disappears, reappears and takes on the face of whomever we are afraid of at the moment. It’s a poor way to run a country.

The Americans might mend their ways in November. When will we?