Peaceful Canada surprised by new wave of racist crimes encouraged by social media

With movement restrictions due to the Covid pandemic, on weekends, many families in small Canadian towns are doing long walks through the almost deserted streets to get rid of the lethargy produced by quarantines. A Pakistani immigrant family was waiting for a traffic light signal to cross an avenue in the City of London, 200 kilometers from Toronto, when a truck passed over them. He killed a married couple, his mother and a teenage daughter, the other 9-year-old son is hospitalized in critical condition. He was a hate crime inspired by social networks which has been shaking the country since last Sunday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had been a “terrorist attack” probably incited by far-right groups who send their messages via social networks. “If anyone thinks that there is no such thing as racism and hatred in this country, How to explain such violence? How can we look families in the eye and tell them that Islamophobia is not real? », Launched the Prime Minister in parliamentary session. Extraordinary measures have already been announced, including the creation of special police units to detect extremist groups and shutting down their cats “before they attack”.

The Canadian and British press talk about a “Nazi-Christian terrorist” that, according to witnesses, laughed while committing the crime And that he did too when he was arrested a few minutes later as he parked his truck in front of a supermarket and came down to see the bloodstains that covered the entire right side of the vehicle. He was identified as Nathaniel Veltman, a 20-year-old withdrawn that she had moved into an apartment in central London a few months ago and worked on a nearby farm to feed the animals. Other witnesses say he wore a bulletproof vest over a painted swastika t-shirt.

The victims made up a family rooted since 2007 in the quiet town. Salman Afzaal, 46, was a physiotherapist and worked in retirement homes. Madiha Salman, 44, was a doctoral student in civil engineering. They were married and had two children: Yumna, 15, and Fayez, 9, hospitalized with serious injuries. Afzaal’s mother, Talat Afzaal, 74, was also killed in the bombing.

Salman and Madiha came to Canada as permanent residents 14 years ago, were actively involved in the local mosque, and volunteered in various organizations. She had a civil engineering degree from Pakistan State University, where he worked a large hydroelectric project for three years. After obtaining a master’s degree from Western University in London, he was completing his doctorate. Jason Gerhard, the professor who oversaw Salman’s graduate work, wrote in an email that his research focused on decontaminating soil and groundwater contaminated with toxic chemicals. Their “Innovative experiences”, He said they have shown that vegetable oil can be used in a process developed at the university to clean chemicals from the soil. The works, he added, have been commercialized and are being used to clean up contaminated industrial sites. Her husband, Mr. Afzaal, worked primarily in two nursing homes in rural communities from the outskirts of London. Jeff Renaud, administrator of the Ritz Lutheran Village, said Afzaal continued to come throughout the pandemic as many other workers stopped. “It has helped people at the end of their life to maintain their mobility and autonomy for as long as possible,” said Renaud. “He was truly an extraordinary soul.”

Canada suffers from racist attacks on the rise. In January, Trudeau instructed Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault to work with Public Safety Minister Bill Blair “to take action in the fight against hate groups and online hate.” A month later he put the Proud Boys militia, who in the United States proclaimed themselves “armed resistance” in the service of the president of the time, Donald Trump, on the list of terrorist organizations. Christian Leuprecht, security and terrorism expert at the Royal Military College of Canada, told The Free Press that official data shows that “in 2018 there was a spike in attacks by these white extremists and since then they remained at these very high rates. . “.” In Canada, we have long been isolated from these phenomena, but already they came to stay and we must create the special political tools to deal with the phenomena of hatred, violent extremism and extremist violence, ”said Leuprecht.

Canada has long had a reputation for being a tolerant and multiracial country with broad freedoms. It has always welcomed immigrants and over the past three years tens of thousands of Syrians escaping the war have arrived in their country. But in its latest annual report, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service noted that “the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated xenophobic and anti-authority rhetoric, many of which may have direct or indirect repercussions on national security considerations ”. In 2019, the most recent year for which statistics are available, police said 1,946 hate crimes in the country, especially against Muslims, and an increase of 10% over the previous year.

As in the United States, the clash occurs between white workers who lost their jobs in the old industry, who live in poverty, Yes new immigrants they see as a threat for their survival. In turn, London is a city with a clear division. In the west, where a large Muslim community lives, it is dominated by the employees of financial services companies, especially insurance, and the sprawling, leafy campus of Western University. The east side is home to heavy industry, including a General Dynamics plant that produces armored military vehicles. But in the same area, several other metallurgical factories have closed in recent years.

In 2017, in London, there was a march against Muslim migration, organized by the group of “Canadian Patriots Against the Islamization of the West”. Most of the protesters came from the outskirts of town. There was a counter-march from the left groups although no incidents were recorded. This was one of the examples of “anti-immigrants” starting to organize. The Canadian Mounted Police recorded some 300 anti-immigrant and xenophobic groups who operate in the country and are very active on social networks. Almost all of them, in turn, have ties to similar American organizations.

Across Lakes Huron and Superior is another small town, Thunder Bay, known as “The capital of hate” where dozens of racist acts, vandalism against immigrant shops and racial killings have been recorded. There, not only immigrants are the target of these crimes, but also the local indigenous community.

“If this were another type of crime, we would say we are facing a national crisis,” said Barbara Perry, director of the Center on Hate, Prejudice and Extremism at the Institute of University of Ontario technology. “Well, we are facing a national crisis of racism and the attack on the family in the city of London proves it ”.

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