Editorial — Ottawa shootings will change us
EDITORIAL — Wednesday’s shootings in Ottawa will change us, even though we don’t want to admit it.
The murder of Corp. Nathan Frank Cirillo at the Canadian National War Memorial, followed by the shooting of his suspected killer Michael Zehaf-Bibeau inside the Parliament Buildings have sent both fear and defiance through the country.
In the immediate aftermath of the the shootings, there were media cautions against speculating as to what was behind them, accompanied by just such speculation. Was it a concerted terrorist attack? Was it a lone gunman unconnected with terrorism? Was it a spontaneous acting out by somebody who snapped? Was it connected to the earlier fatal incident in Quebec? Was it part of a planned series of attacks across the country?
There was a natural need to localize the shootings to reflect our own circumstances. Even though news from Ottawa made it clear from the beginning that the person gunned down at the War Memorial was a soldier, and that no one else had been hit by the shooter, relatives and friends scrambled to assure each other they were OK, media sought out their hometown representatives working in the capital city.
Downtown Ottawa, and other places in the country, quickly went into lockdown mode as politicians offered assurances that Canadians would not be intimidated, our values would not be weakened. Such assurances are needed, and commonplace, in the wake of such attacks.
The end game of terrorists isn’t intimidation. They want to intimidate us first, then rule us. In between, they want to disrupt our democratic processes and institutions, to force us into making them less democratic. Whether by occasional, random small-scale attacks or by major ones, they attempt to turn democracy on itself. And we react either by exposing the fragility of our system or by our resolve.
And yet, there is no avoiding it. Already, there’s talk about tightening security on Parliament Hill and at provincial legislatures. Experts are advising us to keep close watch on acquaintances for any changes in behaviour. Increasing the security of the values we cherish while avoiding the Big Brother society of George Orwell’s 1984 is our next challenge.
We may not be intimidated, we may be resolute, but change we will. The only question is how we manage that change.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
I read this great summary on facebook – not my words, but expresses what is known so far very well.
“Now the facts are emerging beyond the hysterics. The incidents on the east coast had nothing to do with ISIL or the ongoing war in the Middle East. The shooter was simply mentally ill and needed help. Lax gun control laws, recent repeal of the long gun registry, and lack of support for mental patients were the root causes of this problem. Yes, extremist Islamic beliefs drove this man to attack a soldier, but he did not train with or receive orders from anyone except inside his own head. He is dead now, so as far as I’m concerned justice has been served. There is no need to increase the already illegal war against Iraq, nor will any good come from increasing CSIS surveillance powers. The solution is to increase and strictly enforce gun control laws, and to put in place a government that will care for the mentally ill and handicapped instead of cutting back our social services to the point of starvation while simultaneously beating war drums.
We must get rid of the Conservative Party in 2015, bring our troops back home where they belong, and revel in our freedoms – instead of surrendering them to a dictatorship in waiting.
That is the only way we can remain truly free and unafraid.
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I didn’t hear any media cautions about speculation, in fact, quite the opposite. I heard there were multiple gunmen (not true). I heard “game changer” a lot, and even that this was Canada’s 911!!!!! ISIS was mentioned a lot. There was rampant over reaction on the part of the media. The RCMP reported today that it was a lone gunman.and it is not known what his motivation was, he may simply be another wacko. The great tragedy is the young Soldier who was killed in cold blood. Somebody needs to look at security or lack of same in parliament, but past that it may not be the big threatening story that it has been made out to be.
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Ottawa shooting will change us? Or is the Ottawa shooting happened because we don’t change? Or is the Ottawa shooting happened because we changed?
Our society is following the wrong idols with the wrong values. In a nut-shell, the
“i-want,i-want, i-want” sense of entitlement that the adults have been passing down to the children has led us to this.
Selfish perfidy has to make room for selfless generosity. Leadership is needed.
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The fact that a wacko with a shotgun can just walk into the halls of parliament doesn’t say much about security. Try doing this in DC. Given that Canada is now bombing folks over there in Iraq, we should be concerned about reprisals. There is a price to pay for going to war.
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