Anti-terrorism bill like crying ‘wolf’
Re: Censoring In The Name Of Freedom, Jesse Kline, Feb. 4; Terror Bill Suitability Up To Courts, Andrew Coyne, Feb. 5. I have never seen the government sounding the alarms as if the world is coming to an end until now, in spite of many obstacles we as a society face. Even when 1,200 Aboriginal women disappeared in 2013, it did not introduce a law to tackle the crisis.
The hysteria associated with the anti-terror bill will only reinforce the prevailing perception about Muslims as the fifth column, the other and the enemy from within whom everyone should guard against.
The legislation is created to target the Muslim minority, who already face hurdles in their day-to-day activities as if they are all to blame while they themselves are the victims of terrorism.
I was hoping to see a sense of true leadership from Prime Minister Stephen Harper to unite Canadians and to try to tackle the root causes that are leading to extremism and fanaticism.
He should not have played politics in the current situation in order to score points that would help him in the coming election. He should have brought us together as Canadians and opened a line of dialogue on what went wrong with humanity at large and why we have lost the sense of humanity altogether.
Abubakar N. Kasim, Etobicoke, Ont. Free speech is already limited by the laws of libel, slander and, in some jurisdictions, blasphemy. The maxim of “don’t cry ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre” is well known and applicable to the present situation. When strongly and widely held beliefs are challenged, it is essential to avoid insults and sarcasm calculated to stir anger rather than thought. Truths can be expressed dispassionately. Unfortunately dispassionate debate seems to be a lost art these days.
David Kahn, Ottawa. Both your editorial and Andrew Coyne find the criminalizing of the promotion of terrorism in Bill C-51 troublesome. What is the problem? When terrorism is successful, it results in innocent persons being violently killed. We all want less terrorism so we should not allow anyone, including radical imams, to promote and endorse it to the young. This will only bring more terrorism in the future.
Criminalizing the promotion of terrorism is a perfectly reasonable limit on free speech. It is only common sense to criminalize this behaviour. You don’t negotiate with terrorists and you don’t allow them to promote murder.
Hugh McCoy, Toronto.