Quebec City massacre represents a moment for reflection

GUEST COLUMN

More than a century ago, a French sociologist, Emile Durkheim, said something quite shocking: “Crime and deviance could be useful for society.”

He then elaborated that they could be useful because they can provide a moment for society to clarify its own moral boundaries, to become united in the face of crime, and to think about new ways moving forward.

Tragic events such as the massacre of innocent Muslims praying in a Quebec City mosque — whether it was a criminal or a terrorist act — will serve merely as destructive forces for a nation and a society unless we turn them into opportunities for some deep reflection. As sad and disheartening as this tragic event has been, we can still get something good out of it, for how we should act moving forward. The ‘we’ here is all parties involved, the Muslim community and the broader Canadian society.

Let me start with the Muslim community. As easy as it is, and as legitimate as it may sound, to consider this as a sign of a bigger and more forceful hatred towards Muslims among the broader population, Muslims should remember their own very correct reasoning in the aftermath of almost every terrorist event of the past two decades that involved perpetrators of Muslim background: “They do not represent us; they are not us.” The outpouring of emotional support for Muslim Canadians by their fellow non-Muslim citizens is sending that exact message, whether it’s spelled out or not. Muslims should try to practise accepting this innocent appeal in the same way they expected others to accept Muslims’ appeal.

And for non-Muslim Canadians, this is an opportunity to practise what they were expecting the Muslim community to do after each terrorist event, that is, to come out and condemn the massacre, the hatred behind it, the discourses that facilitated it, and the people in power who normalized it. This will have some calming effect on the Muslim Canadians, but that is not the biggest and the most important impact. The bigger impact will be on our own sense of humanity, on the definition of who we are, on our sense of national identity, on our morality and on the values that define us. Even if no Muslim hears those condemnations, their positive impacts will remain and live inside us.

We are living in a strange and confusing time. South of our border, we are witnessing the gradual emergence of a new world DISorder. This is another unfortunate development that could be turned into a positive lesson for us in Canada.

We are witnessing the outcome of the Trumpian discourse, point of view, and policies. This is giving us another golden opportunity to reflect and to make a big decision: Should we adopt the Trumpian perspective or should we remain Canadian?