generalspeaking

Prime Minister Harper : On The Record

One law for all Canadians, says the Prime Minister of this country. Did we ever imagine it might be otherwise? The law applies equally to all. This is the universal justice system under which all Canadians can expect that fair justice will be meted out, equally in deserved dimension in apprehension of wrong-doing that impacts the entire society. There are no special dispensations or delicate manoeuvrings to soothe ethnic, cultural or religious feelings.

"In fairness, this is an operational matter for the RCMP and I wouldn't pretend to know all the details and aspects of the story. but the general approach that this government would expect to see (from law enforcement agencies) is that the law, our important laws, are enforced every day of the year." Prime Minister Stephen Harper

The simple fact is that justice unites us all without equivocation. While special notice may be taken of minority religious holidays, ethnic cuisines, quaint heritage customs through multiculturalism in our obviously pluralist society, that is where the special attention stops. It has obviously not been made sufficiently clear to all Canadians irrespective of where they originally migrated from that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms apply in equal dimension to both rights and obligations.

All citizens have inalienable rights under the Charter, and alternately, all citizens have clear obligations under the Charter, not the least of which is to obey the law. While it is not unlawful to reject some core Canadian values, it is not helpful for community cohesion and social integration. And it is most definitely unlawful to plot to destroy Canadian infrastructure, to conduct a terror campaign, to plan mass murder.

When members of an ethnic-religious minority feel umbrage at official government action, they are not entitled to surreptitiously plan their personal domestic revenge, and to enact a plot to undertake to wreak terror within the country. For this kind of activity the principals can anticipate detection, arrest, incarceration, trial and penalties.

Other members of the ethnic-religious group not associated with the malefactors are not entitled to receive assurances and reassurances that their ethnic-religious group has not been targeted, for such would not be the case. Delicacy of feeling in such instances, expressed in such assurances are unrequired and redundant, and even prospectively offensive.

So that the fact that after three Muslims were arrested on terrorism charges during the Islamic month of Ramadan, the RCMP and Ottawa police felt it incumbent upon themselves to approach the Muslim community at mosques to give assurances, explanations and apologies for disturbing the Muslim community during the sacred month of Ramadan by arresting three Muslim men on terrorism charges is appalling.

This domestic terror plot that threatened the safety and security of Canadians by a group with purported links to international terrorism had nothing whatever to do with ordinary Muslims and everything to do with Islamist jihad. Since these little terror cells have been popping up now and again on the domestic scene since the original Toronto 18, perhaps it should be the Muslim community reassuring the larger Canadian community.

But that the RCMP, local police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has seen fit to structure community outreach groups specific to a single religious community's concerns, to impress upon them that when threats to the entire Canadian society are apprehended, there is no concomitant threat to the Muslim community goes beyond absurd.

These extremes of political correctness whereby consultation is embarked upon by inviting spokespeople for the Muslim community to teach the police and security officials how they may best approach the timid subject of respect for the Muslim communities' cultural-religious sensibilities without offending, is in itself offensive.

The point being that it is incumbent upon all ethnic and religious-based communities to accommodate themselves to the universal values, concerns, priorities and commitments of the country, not the reverse.

Labels: Conflict, Government of Canada, Political Realities

posted by Pieface @ Saturday, January 08, 2011