Denounce intolerance of all forms in Canada

Acycle of violence is ramping up in the West. Radical Islam has spurred jihadist violence. And misguided responses to it have resulted in assaults against innocent Muslims.

All of these incidents are wrong. They need to be roundly denounced.

We also need to talk about why they are happening and seriously address the problem.

On Sunday evening, a man drove his van into congregants in front of a mosque in London.

And on Monday, a suspected jihadist tried to ram his vehicle into police in Paris.

These stories should be shocking, surprising and make us angry. But they’ve become almost commonplace.

This shouldn’t be the case. We should be outraged whenever a jihadist strikes and whenever an innocent Muslim is assaulted.

Canadians like to pretend this is an issue that only happens elsewhere — in Europe or in the United States. We wish that was true. Tragically, it is not.

It’s been a couple of years since the attacks in Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu and on Parliament Hill.

Other attacks since have been thwarted by law enforcement, like the VIA Rail plot and the Strathroy incident.

But other problematic incidents, large and small, have happened in recent months.

Six people were killed and others injured following a shooting at a mosque in Montreal.

Several radical imams in Canada have called for the deaths of Jews.

Recently, a cab driver in Toronto made a serious threat to Postmedia columnist Tarek Fatah.

A woman east of Toronto was charged after harassing an innocent Muslim women on the street.

The threat of radical Islam is real. Violence towards regular Muslims is also real.

But how do we address these challenges? Increasingly, they are not isolated incidents. They are signs of a deeper problem.

As our Canada 150 celebrations near, people across this country are talking about Canadian culture and values.

There is no space for jihadist sentiment in Canada. Their vision of the world is a backwards one that all Canadians must unapologetically reject. This includes politically correct politicians who shy away from the subject.

Likewise, the misguided notion that assaulting our Muslim neighbours is anything but unCanadian.

We need to address the cycle of violence before it worsens.