Close Reading

***National Post***\nMuslim leaders should've condemned Hamas instead of fomenting hate\nIf they had spoken out against terrorism, their advocacy of the Palestinian cause would carry much more weight. \n\nPart of the reason we are seeing division, hatred and unrest in the streets of Montreal, Toronto and other communities across Canada is due to the collective failure of Muslim leaders, in Canada and around the world, to condemn the despicable Oct. 7 terror attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians. \n\nIt was a horrific and cowardly attack by a terrorist group — not by all Palestinians, Arabs or the wider Muslim community. It should have been condemned and contained immediately. Muslims who pride themselves as followers of a peaceful religion should have empathized and consoled the grieving Jews. \n\nThere was a lot of time to do this. There was a lengthy delay between the attack and Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza. Instead of taking this time to condemn Hamas’s slaughter, Arab and Muslim politicians and government leaders promoted anti-Jewish hate to shore up their political support. This is nothing less than encouraging antisemitism. \n\nMuslim political and religious leaders, barring rare exceptions, chose to contextualize, equivocate and, in most cases, justify Hamas’s barbarity. What we have, as a result, is widespread hate bordering on violence in Canada — a country where communities have historically lived side-by-side in peace. \n\nThe situation got worse due to the statements made by community leaders like Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s special representative on combating Islamophobia, who did not hide her partisan and divisive outlook by clearly siding with the protesters on Canadian streets, characterizing them as “peaceful demonstrations,” even though we have seen people supporting Hamas, calling for genocide against Israeli Jews and harassing and intimidating Jewish-owned businesses. \n\nOn Twitter, Elghawaby approvingly cited a quote from a Toronto Star column reading, “The stories I have heard are both fantastical and true. Muslims (and others who silently sympathize with the loss of Palestinians lives) are being disciplined, maligned, isolated and targeted at work.” \n\nInstead of reaching across the aisle and consoling the Jewish community, she has instead chosen to focus her public comments on rising Islamophobia. \n\nSeriously? Remember the Muslim family who were killed in a hate-related attack in London, Ont., a couple years ago? All communities, including the Jewish community, across the political and religious spectrum unambiguously condemned that hate crime. And it brought a sense of relief and security to Muslims in Ontario. \n\nRemember how, after more that 50 people were gunned down while worshipping at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, political and religious leaders from all faiths stood behind Muslims and consoled them? \n\nAlso, after the Quebec mosque attack, almost all communities in Canada chose to stand with Muslims. There were images of people in Alberta who formed a human chain to protect Muslims. Similar scenes were witnessed elsewhere in the country. Jewish community leaders spoke out, loud and clear, in support of Muslims and against hate and bigotry. \n\nBut that is not what Elghawaby did. Instead, she makes it sounds as though it is Muslims who are the victims, while failing to mention the barbarity unleashed on Oct. 7. This is not leadership. This is not her mandate. Her job is to promote tolerance as enshrined in Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. \n\nNow imagine a scenario in which Muslims did what they ought to have done in the first place: condemned the Hamas attack, sided with the Jewish victims and dissociated themselves from terrorism. Their voices for the Palestinian cause would have carried much more weight. \n\nWhat we are seeing instead is a rising tide of anti-Jewish hate on our streets, promoted and peddled by Muslim leaders themselves, either by gaslighting the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, or wallpapering it with the political colours of the Palestinian cause. \n\nLet us all come together, not to let hate be poured onto the streets of Canada, but to stand united for a secure and prosperous country. \n\nNational Post \n\nRaheel Raza and Mohammad Rizwan are members of the Council of Muslims Against Antisemitism.

When immigrants see the same crap (generational hate) they came to Canada to leave behind then add all the other items listed in the comments, Canada has become a sh$t hole country unless you come from money or have a cushy government job with all benefits and pension. Health care here is totally broken, need a major change. Getting bitter in my older age, see even traditional Canadian good heartedness is being carved away!!!

I used to think we were very much the same and I wanted to live in the US for the weather. But as we go often I have found the atmosphere and attitude has changed greatly in the last few years. People we used to be friends with don’t speak to me anymore as I called them on their awful beliefs. I know it’s not everyone but those beliefs have become way more common. The US used to be more global but now has become way more worried about themselves. \nYou can not talk about politics in a way that’s just a calm exchange, the hate is palpable. I went to an event the morning after a mass shooting and was visibly upset, not one person there talked about it or really thought about it. I asked someone about their thoughts and said “I don’t know why we have so many shootings here in the US” \nEducation is my next thing. The people I talk to know nothing about Canada and that’s not such a surprise but I know more about the US than most Americans I’ve talked to.\nI agree with a comment previously 26:29 that the north east is better educated and less dangerous.\nI feel bad for you as this is harsh but even on the news when Americans talk about being the greatest country etc on earth it feels arrogant. Maybe some years ago but now….. not so much.\nI’m afraid for your Democracy and I think so many people are just not listening

To the anti-immigrant fools in the comments, who hate that productive, rich, taxible people come to work in Canada: remeber that the enemies of affordable housing are those NIMBYs who stop us from building houses and apartments. We will all be swimming in gold once we actually start building at higher rates--which is the historical norm.

There are so many scary things about the US right now. Drugs, crime, mass murders, accessibility to healthcare, terrorism, racial hate crimes, etc. The list is quite long. Not everyone is affected by all of these things (knock on wood). One thing that is disgusting is politics. It is not dangerous per se as the aforementioned so it is probably not fair to say it as a justification against moving to the US. However, it is very commonplace in the US, and it is very annoying. Politics is extremely toxic, aggressive, and divisive right now. One wrong comment out of your mouth in public, and people will be ready to fight you. Or on the flip side, you hear one wrong comment in public, it is best to bite your tongue. \n\nPolitics in the US was not always intolerable. It has always been a strong subject of discussion since forever. However, it became disgusting and overly obnoxious ever since Trump came into the scene. I think his elitist personality gave his supporters a green light to be more vocal about their own divisiveness. Combine that with social media, and you have a recipe for disaster... so much hate, divisiveness, and willingness to not bite one's tongue right now in the States. American politics is really overbearing. And monkey see and monkey do... it will leak into Canada. I guarantee it.

Tyler, thanks for your entertaining and fun videos. My grandfather is a dual citizen but has never renewed his passport or anything and when asked to do so, he outright refuses. He says he hated living there. We live in the Vancouver area of Canada right now. My wife is finishing her registered nursing degree and we are considering moving to washington state, within an hour or so of the Canadian border on temporary work visas (TN1) for a few years. The main reason is the cost of living differences, mostly in housing but a lot of things are cheaper down there too. For example though, the costs of rent or to buy a house in the Vancouver area is insane - 1.5 million is generally a starting point. The cost of a detached house south of the border between Bellingham and Blaine starts around $400,000 ($500,000 CDN). If renting, it's crazy cheaper than here. \n\nThe area we are considering going to is very close to the canadian border, I've never heard of major violence problems in the area. Like one of the other comments you read, we're basically considering moving there to take advantage of a lower cost of living and higher salaries for a bit to try to get ahead. Living in the Vancouver area is such an absolute DRAIN on our finances that it is intolerable. If we didn't move to the US, we'd have to find another place in Canada to go to, but we do like the climate on the coast here. I'd actually just keep commuting to Canada daily to work in Canada since it's so close to the border, and writing the bar exam to be able to practice law in any US state except California, Massachusets, or New York is a pain in the backside to even be able to write it, let alone prepare for it. Just easier for me to keep working here unless we decided to try to make a permanent move somewhere further from the border.\n\nIf we decided to change our minds and apply to stay in the US in the future, there are a lot of the other considerations that other people have raised on top of my own ability to continue as a lawyer. Gun violence in the US is crazy, extreme polarized political views and increasing intolerance against diversity of race, culture, religion, (and while it doesnt affect us directly, it bothers us how LGBTQ people are increasingly targeted with backwards policies and by certain segments of the public), the health care system in canada has it's problems but it's also got it's strong points. We'll never go bankrupt because of a health care issue since we can move back to Canada IF it's ever a problem. Thankfully we are all pretty healthy so it shouldn't be much of a problem for a while at least. And we wouldn't even move there at all if her employment as a nurse doesn't offer health care and better pay than she can obtain here. \n\nOur kids will probably attend post-secondary (college/university) in Canada as dual citizens unless they get a scholarship to a top US school. The costs of post-secondary in Canada appears to be much cheaper than in the US and we have some good colleges/universities that consistently rank high globally.

I see this done a lot but there's a big difference between correlation and causation. Your Rbc example shows the top people all white, including women I may add. It's very ingenuous to claim racism based purely on who has risen to the top. Would you call the NBA racist because blacks overwhelmingly are represented or did they get there because they were the best? It's really exhausting having to correct leftist talking points based on nothing.\nThis is the problem today, racism is used so much that it's become little more than name calling because people, usually on the left, call anyone they disagree with racist.\nYou dislike illegal immigration? Racist. You can be pro lawful immigration but have the wrong opinion and your a racist.\nHate crimes? These are incredibly rare and are often skewed politically, largely for reasons I just explained but if an indigenous man assaults an Asian lady, it's less likely to be labeled a hate crime as, say a white male doing the exact same.\nNot so common here but in the US, there are numerous examples of blacks assaulting Asians and orthodox jews and the media will cleverly imply it's whites by saying white supremacy is on the rise, then give the stats on hate crimes, most of which were not committed by whites. It's this kind of media manipulation that creates an inaccurate impression.\nNow, for the indigenous, yes, there is systemic racism. We have an entire governmental system treating natives differently with reserves, different taxes, hunting rights etc by definition it's systemically racist although many are a benefit.\nI also agree with your comment on Quebec with it's strong almost nationalist attitudes towards maintaining it's French heritage at the expense of individual rights.\n, please don't label someone or an organization as racist just because a bunch of white people occupy top positions without evidence that racism was the cause when it could just be they were the best candidates. Is it not best to not always assume the absolute worst before coming to a conclusion? It's like our legal system based on a biblical tale of choosing to let a 100 guilty go free than condemn a single innocent man. A founding principle to modern western countries that should apply here.\nBeing racist is a serious and nasty accusation that should be thrown only when it's established. I don't call someone a child killer just because I disagree with their politics and to do so is an a front to genuine victims. \nI'd argue Canada is one of the least racist nations on Earth. Name a country, you think is LESS racist, I'm curious, what would you suggest? I would counter that racism or xenophobia is far more common in non western countries.\nI would suggest countries in Asia, Africa and others with less multicultural populations harbor more racist sentiment towards other races. Visit Japan, very xenophobic but no one dares call them racist because it doesn't promote the leftist stereotype of white man racism.\nThere's a reason you never saw racism but had to be lectured by holier than thou self flagulating liberals about the scourge of racism, it's mostly a fabrication. These same people can never give a factual example beyond what you provide with the Rbc example. If it's that bad you would think they can provide real evidence.\nHave you actually met or seen racism in Canada? You probably have a better chance being struck by lightning.

Everyone in this comment section will try to reason or make sense of this..let me end it here...the copies..mutations will always hate the originals..I said what I said!Canada is babylon..get out if u still can.

To the people in the comment section PLEASE read my statement Canada has mass racism. There is a massive Native American population here and they BOTH hate each other, Canadians actively encourage each other to hate Natives and the tension gets worse the more north Canada you go. DO NOT BE FOOLED CANADA WAS BUILT ON RACISM

First off Canada is not a systemically racist country I’m white I’m also poor and I’ve lived here all my life nearly everyone excluding the native population in a immigrant or a descendant of a immigrant my mom is Portuguese and I also have black family members we are no more racist than anyone else in any other country. Every country has a few homeless people and that number has grown immensely due to poor Liberal government policy when I was young there were maybe one or 2 homeless people in my home town and they were severely mentally Ill homelessness has greatly increased since pm Justin Trudeau has been in power and that’s something I can say I have observed first hand living here in Ontario Canada for 30 years - my entire life. Canadian tax payers don’t want to pay for drug addicts to get more drugs the Liberal Canadian government have set up “safe injection sites” and “ methadone clinics” that basically give these addicts more drugs that are payed for with our tax dollars again these clinics and safe injection sites didn’t exist when I was a kid and since then the number home homelessness has increased as well as the number in population addicted to drugs. Also you’re getting your statistics on hate crimes motivated based on race or ethnicity from CTV new a media outlet on the pay role of the Liberal government most people with any sense don’t pay attention to mainstream media here in Canada because it’s no longer journalism when you parrot a narrative that the government that is constantly attacking the fundamental values of Canada no controls I live in a complex that consists mostly of Arabic in Syrian people most racist comments I’ve heard has been between other families that have recently immigrated to Canada and it doesn’t happen often it’s usually just from unruly kids that are too ignorant to understand the implications of the words they utter at one another RBC is one bank in Canada if all the people working there happen to be white it doesn’t make a difference and is likely purely because they’’ve been working that same job for many years now we don’t give people jobs in Canada based on their skin colour people get jobs based on their performance and wether they meet the necessary SKILL requirements for that job there are lots of other banks in Canada that have different cultural diversities so far I honestly just feel like your just shitting on my county and that’s extremely rude of you eh. It is hard to find a family doctor these days a lot of doctors were fired for refusing to take the Covid shots I also refused to take the Covid shot and I haven’t had Covid through out this entire plandemic not once I hardly even wore a mask because I know when I’m being lied too I know how to spot when someone is experiencing duper’s delight when they think they’re getting away with doing something wrong Justin Trudeau and Christia Freeland frequently express duper’s delight when they refuse to answer questions or deflect questions your voice sounds like your from either Sweden or Switzerland how close am I I’m not surprised that’s also where the WEF “word economic forum” is from yes? It really seems like you’re just trying to demonize Canada as a whole and quite frankly it’s insulting I love my county and all the people in it where ever they come from again accept for the natives we all started out as immigrants here and I find the stuff that you’re saying is extremely divisive the only people that really leave either do so because they want a good job and a life else where for their own personal experience and life fulfillment or have been deported for what ever reason we have strict immigration laws so there are many ways to get sent back to ones original country.

The CBC is a huge issue in Canada. It’s funded ENTIRELY with tax dollars therefore the government decides what we watch, even if no one wants to watch it at all, and the CBC is 100% in love with the Liberal government and all of their news is blatant propaganda. Why not? The Liberals increased the CBC budget to 1.6 Billion a year of course they want to spin the news to help them especially when you consider the fact that many Conservatives want it defunded completely because they are tired of the spin. \nAnother issue is that some areas of Canada make the decisions for the rest of the country. Ontario and Quebec have large populations therefore when it comes to federal elections they basically always get their way even if everyone in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba disagrees. \nAlso, Quebec gets treated completely differently than the rest of the country. They have special deals when it comes to university tuition and child care, they have their own political party that no one else can vote for, and they force the rest of the country to have French all over the place and on everything which is mostly pointless and very few people in Canada can only speak French and can’t understand the English. The amount of crappy, unwatchable French TV/radio shows we outside Quebec have to pay for with tax dollars is beyond ridiculous.\nI know this comment will get hate especially since I mentioned Quebec which is a touchy subject.

This comment section is full of hate towards Canada! I shouldn’t have come here ?

in this comments, I see very clear from whom the hate comes from… „Spreading hate for freedom“ ? or „killing innocents in eastern countries for freedom in western countries“ aaalriggghttt I get it\nand one important fact by the way: It isn‘t only in Canada the fastest growing religion, it‘s the FASTEST GROWING RELIGION in the world! THAT‘S the FU**INKG FACT and nobody can‘t prevent it!

The people spreading hate in the comments are the one's who cannot afford to come to canada and living a dirty life in india.

I thought canada was supposed to be better than America. I guess not judging by the trolls in the comments that seems to hate cbc but watch and comment on all their videos.

Canada is a wonderful country my obligations towards this country is to protect it muslim or no Muslim, don't let the hate words and feelings bet to you guys don't listen to any comments against any religion we are in harmony here and we wanna keep it that way , god bless this country and protected from the Worms they are trying to spread the poison & fear in our thoughts and beliefs

it is a shame to see those hateful comments while we pray that may God keep peace in Canada, when we pray in Mosques.\nI'm a Saudi living in Canada. I don't understand how we welcome Canadians to our communities without forcing them to leave their religion but we face that when we come to Canada. **Terrorism has no religion**\n\nIn the past, christians had some terrorist groups and it was crazy but it's ignorant to say Christianity is about terrorism! Now we have crazy groups but that's not us! they use the name of islam and they manipulate verses to do their greedy ugly work.\n\nBTW Canadians should feel ashamed, because they treat Native Amercians like shit, and they still do << quoted from white Canadians! \nthey took their land,,, took children away from their parents to foster homes. this is taught in Canadian universities in a class called Aboriginal Studies.\n\nturn off the TV and go read about islam. I have a white Canadian friend who converted into islam. and she is VERY happy about it.. and i have so many other non muslim friends... we love each other and care for each other.

Blacks arent the problem in canada as much as it is in the US. There was no KKK here. The people that do deserve the knowledge is the Aboriginals. The government treated them bad and so did the churches. They are what the Canadian government should be addressing and not so much the blacks as they are just as equal as a white man in Canada now. Jobs for the government 1 year have to hire more minorities then another year females and what not. I cant speak for what it is like in the US but where I live blacks are treated the same as whites. There are some arabs that think they are the gangsters and hate white peopl for ni reason. I asked them why they hates whites so much and they said its because they are pussys. That aint no damn reason. If you disagree please enlighten me with your knowledge. And if you live in the US dont comment saying you know more because i doubt you were even taught a single thing about canada in school. But if you do know something please teach me.

As an atheist exmuslim who despises orthodox islam and jihadis, I have the ability to separate the regular muslims from the crazy ones. I have always admired Canada's openness and inclusivitiy which I believe is unrivalled in the world. However the hate speech in these comments are troubling. Not all americans are KKK members and not all muslims are jihadis. Let's all oppose the crazy ones together but by preaching hate speech against all Muslim Canadians you are making the situation a lot worse and perhaps turning what is 1% of Muslim Canadians to a higher number.