Landmarks around the world continue to shine blue, white and red, the colours of the French national flag, in solidarity with the victims of Paris as western societies recoil from the coordinated attacks of an ISIS terror cell on November 13.
Tensions are rising and tempers have been flaring throughout the European Union and in cities all across Canada, as countries scramble to halt immigration procedures and close their borders.
What happened on Friday night that began with explosions at the Stade de France, and carried on with the shootings at three different popular eateries in central Paris, and ended with the massacre at the Bataclan concert venue during a performance by US rock band The Eagles Of Death Metal, was terrible and tragic, but France was not the only target on the ISIS hit-list.
Metrojet flight 9268 from St. Petersburg, Russia to Egypt was detonated in transit by a bomb placed on board by ISIS members, and a jihadist blew himself up in Beirut, killing 44, the day before the attacks on Friday.
In Canada, however, our public safety minister, Ralph Goodale said on Wednesday that there is no reason to raise our national threat level above its current level – medium, where it has been since October.
His comments come on the heels of reports that a man was shot by Peel Regional Police four times after being spotted wearing what appeared to be a suicide vest and brandishing a triggering mechanism.
Our Minister of Defence was quoted as saying Canadians need not fear ISIS and our newly-elected Liberal government still decided to go ahead with fast-tracking the immigration of 25,000 Syrians before December 31.
In the meantime, Saskatchewan Premiere Brad Wall has set himself up as the first among our provincial leadership to press the Trudeau government to cancel a campaign promise to accept those refugees and Wildrose leader Brian Jean has called for unity and retaliation, taking a decidedly war-like tone in his speeches.
If you are wondering why this is relevant to our rural community, consider this:
Alberta’s Premiere, Rachel Notley, told media outlets on Nov. 18, that our province can expect ten per cent, or roughly 2,500 refugees.
Everyone has the right to life and liberty, and Canadians have a long, rich history of multiculturalism and tolerance, so it comes as no surprise that many of us across the country feel the obligation to extend aid to anyone fleeing danger, yet we must approach this situation with caution and not leap blindly into the fire.
We need to be 100 per cent sure that we are letting in refugees that are going to integrate peacefully and are not secret ISIS terrorists.
The point is to stand together with France and the rest of our Western brethren, for our God and our way of life.
Otherwise, we already lost the war that France has just declared.
