For years, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has been publicly warning that “lone wolf” terrorists are one of the biggest threats facing Canada. Since they act alone, driven by an extremist ideological cocktail, these attackers are harder to detect, track and predict than terrorist groups. These warnings became reality this week, tragically. But our laws are up to the task – we must resist the urge to overreact in the coming days.
The freedoms Corporal Nathan Cirillo died honouring at the National War Memorial are the same freedoms that will see us through this brutal awakening. The real threat of terrorism has always been not just the loss of innocent life – while tragic, this is just a means to an end for terrorists. Their real ambition is to use our fears to trade enhanced security for reduced freedom. They succeed not through their actions, but our reactions. Their goal is a world of authoritarian states – theirs an extremist Islamic state, ours a secular police state. How do we respond to such violence without falling into this trap?
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