Canada lost a little bit of her innocence this week. On two separate occasions in just three days, in two provinces, two military men, two lives taken. Add to that our Parliament Buildings breached, guns fired, people injured and a gunman shot and killed.
Were they related? Were they related to Canada’s recent decision to join the international coalition launching air strikes against Islamic State militants? Homegrown extremists is a new phenomenon here. Or was today an unfortunate copycat by someone with a mental illness?
I don’t want to jump to conclusions, as there is much yet to uncover. I’m sure we’ll learn more in the coming days but for now, it’s all a bit hazy.
We Canadians like to think of ourselves as a peaceful nation. We rarely declare war on anyone and we are known throughout the world as peacekeepers. Heck, we’re the country joked about for our citizens apologizing when we are bumped into by someone else. So when a deliberate hit-and-run kills a soldier we are shocked. When someone ambushes and runs and guns down a reserve soldier guarding the National War Memorial, we are horrified. When the same person then walks into the Centre Block of our House of Parliament and starts shooting … well, we have no words.
It’s a grim reminder, as our Prime Minister told us tonight, that we are not immune to the same sorts of terror that happen in other parts of the world. It’s just that we have a hard time believing that – well, we did until today.
Much of downtown Ottawa was on lockdown today and like many others, I’m sure, I spent some of the early afternoon tracking down people I know there. I had a colleague in Ottawa with government meetings. My industry association’s office is just steps from the Hill. And metaphorically closer to home, my son, in his first year of university, was locked down in a university classroom for hours before they were allowed to leave. It was a relief to hear his voice this evening.
Many things were cancelled today. Malala Yousafzai, one of the world’s newest Nobel Peace Prize winners was slated to become an honarary Canadian citizen today. This evening’s NHL matchup between the Leafs and the Senators was called off. And most important to my son, with the school on lockdown, a mid-term exam was postponed.
I struggle to find the words, let along the coherent sentences, to write about these tragedies, as fresh as they are, so please forgive these disjointed thoughts. But I must write, to try and make some sense of it all.
I spent too much time following events on social media today and the pictures kept coming. I think the one that threw me the most was one of the chairs – those iconic green leather chairs – being used to barricade doors. Those chairs, used by the leaders of our country, in the most formal of settings…. To see them being used in such a defensive, almost helpless way took a chink out of that solid confidence I have in my leaders and the laws of my land.
So far, I’ve been impressed with the restraint our Canadian media have shown in reporting the events of the day, and I’m not the only one. I hope, as more information becomes available, that the men and women who write and deliver our daily news remain controlled.
Back in the spring, I heard an interesting interview on CBC, which suggested that one way the media could help in situations like this would be to focus more on the victims and less on those who commit these vicious acts. The premise was that by taking away the notoriety of the assailants, the impetus for others to commit similar crimes to continue might be diminished.
So with that in mind, let us not talk tonight about those who committed these crimes. Let us instead remember Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent and Corporal Nathan Cirillo. We thank them for their service and keep them and their families in our thoughts and our prayers as we shed a tear for them, and for a country less innocent than it was just three short days ago.
