Terrorism is rare but still a real threat in Canada
Edmonton attack likely latest incident, writes Phil Gurski.
If you were to ask most people around the world about my country, I am pretty sure few would respond: “Canada? Oh, it is a hotbed of terrorism!” This is not to say there have not been any terrorist acts over the years — in fact, many forget that the single largest act of terrorism in history prior to 9/11, the 1985 downing of an Air India plane, was a made-in-Canada plot — but these are thankfully few and far between.
Yet we may have witnessed a terrorist attack on Edmonton Saturday night. There also were three interesting developments this week in the world of terrorism that have a Canadian nexus:
A Montreal court sentenced Ismael Habib
■ to nine years in prison for his attempts to join ISIL. A Gatineau court had found him guilty earlier of threatening his girlfriend.
A New York court found Muhanad al-Farekh
■ guilty of providing support to al-Qaida Friday. Although a U.S. citizen, al-Farekh was a student at the University of Manitoba and disappeared along with two other Canadians back in 2007.
A B.C. Supreme Court tried, then acquitted,
■ Othman Hamdan of supporting terrorism online in a Sept. 25 decision.
Terrorism is a real, albeit not an existential, threat to Canada. Several major plots have been foiled thanks to the efforts of our spy agency, CSIS, and the RCMP (and their partners) and only two have been successful — two days apart in October 2014, leading to the deaths of two members of the Canadian military, including Cpl. Nathan Cirillo in Ottawa.
We have also had a few narrow misses — Aaron Driver in Strathroy in 2016, and Rehab Dughmosh in a Scarborough Canadian Tire last summer — as well as an alarming number of Canadians who travelled to join Islamic State and who may return one day to wreak havoc. All in all, however, Canada has dodged this scourge.
Nevertheless, as they say in investment, past performance is no guarantee of future return. The events in Edmonton Saturday night, while in the early stages of investigation, point toward terrorism and we may have been hit by an attack very much in the same vein as Barcelona, London, Nice and Berlin.
No, this is not the first use of a vehicle in an attack — Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent was killed on Oct. 20, 2014 by Martin Couture-Rouleau with a car — but it may be the first mass casualty one (injuries, so far) on Canadian soil.
We must acknowledge, however, that the incident on Edmonton streets may not have been a planned attempt to mow down pedestrians: the culprit was, after all, fleeing a police stop. But the effects are similar.
In the end, terrorism remains a very rare act in Canada and is likely to remain so. We cannot panic and give in to fear and anger. We must be true to our “Canadianness,” a quality that endears us to so many in the world. We must ensure that CSIS, the RCMP and others are properly resourced. We must borrow from the Brits and “keep calm and carry on.” My thoughts are with the injured police officer as well as the pedestrians.