“Don’t blame Trump for Quebec,” Canadians blame their own right-wing leaders for mosque massacre

Canadians are blaming their own right-wing leaders, not the United States President Donald Trump, for the shooting by a suspected far-right-inspired attacker Alexandre Bissonette at a mosque in Quebec that left six people dead and five others critically wounded.

“No, Canada. You don’t get to blame this on Trump,” Kathleen Smith of Edmonton, Alberta, said in a viral Facebook post. “Not when Harper and Kenney tried to ban the Niqab from citizenship ceremonies.”

She was referring to attempts by former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former immigration minister Jason Kenney’s attempts to ban women from wearing the Islamic head gear at citizenship ceremonies.

“Not when Kellie Leitch gets constant airtime and media exposure for being the worst xenophobic monster a human could be,” she adds in the viral post. “Not when former Quebec Premier Marois pushed ‘Quebec values’ policy that attempted to ban all religious symbols except those Christians would wear.”

“The immediate temptation will be to blame this on events South of our border, to blame this on him, but don’t,” Patrick G Watson of Toronto, Ontario posted. “It was Jacques Perizeau who blamed the defeat of the Quebec referendum in 1995 on ‘la vote ethnique’, not Him.”

“It was Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney who said we should ban the niqab during citizenship ceremonies, not Him.” Watson added. “It was the Partis Quebecois who campaigned on “Quebec Values” and the Liberals and NDP who refused to confront them for fear of losing votes, not Him.”

“It was Chris Alexander and Kellie Leitch who advocated for a Barbaric Cultural Practices tip line, not Him,” Watson pointed out. “It is Kellie Leitch who ‘isn’t concerned about the racist vote she’s attracting’ and who continues to employ noted Islamaphobe Nick Kouvalis as her campaign manager, not Him.”

“As you read all the het up rhetoric about Trumpism invading Canada, let’s remember that the Quebec “Charter of Values” debate is not dead, and troglodytic Islamophobic Conservative leadership candidates like Kelly Leitch and Chris Alexander continue to spew their garbage from within the embrace of a very mainstream political party,” Mike Belmore of Hamilton, Ontario wrote. “Always remember that the greatest threats to Canadian rights and freedoms are not those from Americans, they are those from Canadians”

“It’s not just Trump,” Political analyst Fayaz Karim stated. “It’s ‘Canadian Values,’ ‘Quebec Charter of Values,’ Harper, Kenney, Leitch, O’Leary, Chris Alexander, S7, C24, C51 and the Media that rode the Islamophobia bandwagon for way too long. They gave these characters the platform to cultivate discrimination.”

Kellie Leitch, whose leadership campaign for Conservative Party of Canada centers around a platform of screening would-be immigrants for “Canadian Values,” condemned the mosque attack in a Facebook post.

“Last night people in Quebec City were murdered as they prayed,” Leitch stated. “This outrageous act of violence is an attack not just on those gathered in a house of worship but on the very fabric of Canadian society, on the values of freedom and tolerance. There is no excuse and no justification for this terrorist attack. I condemn the act, the people who carried it out, and any who might try to justify, rationalize, or support it unreservedly and in the harshest possible terms.”

Leitch’s post has done very little to assuage the anger of Canadians directed at her for creating conditions that led to the the tragedy in Quebec.

“Ms Leitch. You can hide behind empty words of condolence,” the top response to her comment, by Beverley Cooper of Toronto, Ontario, read. “The fact is your desire to have immigrants screened for “Canadian Values” is the type of rhetoric that encourages hateful actions such as this. (just look at the comments on this page),”

“Who will decide what ‘Canadian Values’ are?,” Cooper asked. “While you won’t admit it out loud…you are clearly targeting Muslims with your grandstanding. My grandmother came from Sweden and she was subjected to the same kind of hateful screening you would like to impose now. And people…be careful here when you start talking about “immigrants”. Almost all our ancestors were immigrants. I assume I will get a barrage of hate in response…because I can can already see the hateful comments being spewed here.”

“This is on you,” John Greenshields of Lethbridge, Alberta, responded. “This is a direct response to your hateful rhetoric about Canadian values. You own this. Don’t turn your coat now and expect us to forget. Traitor.”