Andrew Scheer's Racism Problem

White supremacy is on the rise abroad and at home. Conservative politicians must do more to denounce its spread.

- Jen Gerson

With fifty Muslims dead in Christchurch, New Zea­land, attacks on syna­gogues in Pittsburgh and California, white­supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the rise of populist, xenophobic parties across the West, the world seems to be settling into a dark pattern — one in which extremists vie for death­toll glory as political rhetoric grows more poison­ ous and divisive.

Canada is not immune to this kind of violence. In 2017, Alexandre Bissonnette opened fire on a Quebec City mosque; he later plead­ed guilty to six counts of first­degree murder and said that his act of terrorism was triggered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to welcome more refugees in the wake of Donald Trump’s Muslim travel ban. Bis­sonnette feared more refugees would pose a threat to him and his family. “I was, like, sure that they were going to come and kill my parents also and my family,” he said during a video interrogation. According to Statistics Canada, police report that hate crimes have increased dramatically in recent years. In 2017, the number rose by 47 percent over the pre­vious year; that increase was attributed to a growth in crimes motivated by religion, race, or ethnicity. More of these crimes are targeting Black, Arab, and West Asian commun­ities: reported hate crimes targeting Muslims grew by 151 percent; targeting Jewish people, 63 percent.

Against this backdrop, many Canadians, especially those who identify as pro­gressive, see cause for alarm, fearing that conservative parties and politicians here are parroting the rhetoric of far­right parties elsewhere.