A. Rybczynski – For Whom Died Nathan Cirillo?

Just over a year ago Corporal Nathan Cirillo died while on sentry duty at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. Defenceless because carrying only an unloaded rifle, he was shot twice in the back by a Canadian-born Islamist. Right after the murder, the attacker jumped back into his car, drove it straight to the Canadian Parliament’s entrance and was able to get into the building where he was finally shot to death by the security personnel.

Canada was shattered. The funeral of Nathan Cirillo had been attended by thousands, including official representations of the armed forces, police, firemen and other public service groups. There was a speech by the Prime Minister Stephen Harper; the leader of the Liberal Party, Justin Trudeau, was also present.

A few weeks after this tragedy the Canadian Conservative government sent soldiers and six CF-18 fighters to the war with ISIS in Syria on a mission of bombing strategic targets. Since October 30th, 2014, Canadian pilots have completed over 1,100 combat flights.

An active participation in a war in which the real stake is saving the Western civilization did not gain approval of the Liberal opposition who believed that Canada should concentrate only on “peace missions” and limit its combat role to “training jobs” far from the battlefield. This idea was included in the list of election promises by Justin Trudeau. It is just one more proof that the Liberals stubbornly try to defeat ruthless, evil ideologies by naive half-measures which are carefully crafted to avoid even the most far-fetched accusations of intolerance, racism or xenophobia. Not that long ago the just-nominated Canadian defence minister, Sikh Harjit Sajjan, was trying to convince the public in one of his media interviews that it is possible to peacefully approach ISIS (whose political creed is mostly expressed through decapitating its opponents and Christians) via diplomatic channels (sic).

After the November 13th terrorist attacks in Paris one would think that the Prime Minister’s tone could become at least more firm and realistic. This did not happen. Trudeau, asked at a press conference if he would annul his intention to withdraw the Canadian fighter planes from Syria, declared only that it was “too early” to make any decisions.

As of now, Canadian warplanes still attack ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria but the lack of firmness on the part of the new Canadian government, as well as its constant evasive maneuvering in regard to this subject, do not bode well for the future. The government-sponsored CBC persists in its strategy of disinformation and soft-pedalled rhetoric. Difficult questions are not asked and uncomfortable facts are ignored; what’s worse, this applies not only to the Middle Eastern and Russian affairs. Political correctness and multicultural doublespeak have managed to seriously circumvent common sense in every sphere of public discourse.

Accepting 25,000 refugees from Syria before Christmas 2015 was another of Trudeau’s election promises. In this case also, the government, media and many well-intentioned people seem to ignore some important facts such as, for example, that thirteen percent of Syrian migrants identify with the Islamic State. Nobody cares to mention either that at least one of the terrorists who attacked the Bataclan theatre in Paris had made the “migration” journey from Greece to Austria and France just before committing this atrocity. The media loudly talk about “acts of terror” but only whisper about the Islamic radicals standing behind them and planning the destruction of Christianity and Western civilization. Is this only in order not to offend those Muslims who restrict themselves to praying in a mosque?

During the Prime Minister’s press conference preceding his trip to the G20 economic summit in Turkey, Justin Trudeau told us that he was not aware of any Canadian victims of the terror attacks in Paris. It is too bad that he did not understand the prophetic meaning of Nathan Cirillo’s death and that he doesn’t know how to behave with honour in a world of lost values and vanished faith.

Aleksander Rybczynski