What does the recent arrest of two people who are suspected of planning a terrorist attack on Canadian soil mean to you? What impact does it have on Canada? What impact does it have on how people think about Islam? What motivates people to turn to terrorism in Canada?

I don’t think the shock of the VIA Rail plot has really sunk in yet.  Naïve as it may sound; I view Canada as a tolerant and welcoming place for immigrants. The reality is however, that homegrown Islamic terrorism is on the rise here as well and it will be important to protect public safety even if that means security searches not only at airports but also at train and bus stations. We will have to give up on some civil liberties to be safe - this was apparent when Anti-Terror Bill S-7 was passed in the House of Commons last week in order to give law enforcement the means to respond more effectively to terrorism.

 

So why would two Muslim men, who were educated and living well in Canada, want to destroy it? Hatred and anger from persecution elsewhere is difficult for refugees to leave behind no matter how long they have lived in Canada.  Raed Jaser and his family were classified as stateless Palestinians and sought refugee status here in 1993. They lived in Markham, ON and tried hard to blend in with suburban life while still being open about their Muslim faith (McLean’s, May 6, 2013). Chiheb Esseghaier, was a gifted medical researcher, who published a few papers on nanotechnology and its use in medicine. Apparently, they both had family ties in Montreal (where Esseghaier worked) and according to the RCMP, received direction and guidance from an unspecified al-Qaeda element in Iran.

The Muslim community is working hard to educate Canadians about misconceptions they may have concerning Islamic beliefs - only very few Muslims are radical extremists. In fact it was a Toronto Imam who first warned the RCMP about Jaser.

Experts who study trends in the motivation behind Islamic extremism have pointed out that it is not just a desire to strike back at the West for its atrocities in Muslim countries but it may develop due to a personal crisis (anger, desire for collective revenge- to join a warrior elite) as well.  Brian Michael Jenkins, a leading terrorism expert, says “ideology has become a conveyor of individual discontent” (McLeans, May 6, 2013) especially amongst young Muslim males.