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David Polansky: Synagogue shootings are an assault on Canadian sovereignty

The perpetrators of these crimes are not only threatening Jews, but the rule of law and the government's ability to protect civil society

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Earlier this week, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree announced that the federal government had earmarked $10 million to Jewish communities to help them reinforce security in response to the waves of attacks on Canadian Jewish institutions, particularly in Toronto and Montreal. That’s a lot of money, and it has the feel of decisive action. But it is in fact something less — not so much a decision as an avoidance of decision.

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While some have understandably criticized this measure as putting the onus on Jewish communities, rather than dealing with the source of the threats themselves, the problem is in fact larger than that. The government, too, is a target of these attacks, whether its representatives recognize it or not. The ongoing threats arise from the perpetrators’ belief that they need not fear law enforcement. Further still, this continued violence and intimidation serves as a fundamental challenge to Canadian sovereignty.

David Polansky: Synagogue shootings are an assault on Canadian sovereignty Back to video

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In some sense, this is true of all forms of lawless activity. But lawlessness of a political nature poses a more direct challenge to the claims underlying the government’s authority: not only that it is able to uphold rule of law, but also that its laws might hold up within a multicultural and multiethnic country.

The tacit promise is: play by the rules, obey the laws and observe the norms of our society, and you will be free to live your way of life alongside others. The kinds of targeted violence we are now routinely seeing in Canada, and that we have seen in country after country, strikes at the heart of that promise. It is not just a problem for Jewish communities, it is a problem for every level of government, which have rested their authority on their ability to fulfill that promise.

Much of the discussion surrounding this problem continues to be about providing adequate minority protections. This is wrong. The protections being invoked are not in any way unique and do not raise exceptional questions of governance. They are entirely ordinary protections. The institutions and practices of Jewish life in Canada are part of a broader sphere of civil society, without which no liberal order can function. What is extraordinary is the continued threats to civil society.

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Protecting civil society is a prime directive of lawful government. Thus, its continued failure to do so is also extraordinary. The question to be asking, then, is not: what further laws or institutions (or funding commitments) are required to deal with this new problem? The question is: what is preventing our existing laws and institutions from dealing effectively with an old problem?

This is why the boilerplate responses of public officials cannot be chalked up only to incompetence or absence of will, as relevant as those factors may be. They also reflect a basic lack of understanding of the obligations that political leaders took on when they assumed their positions, as well as the severity of the present challenges to them.

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It may of course be that they do not want to acknowledge the nature of those challenges, insofar as it would fracture their own political coalitions. But this should not be complicated. If the perpetrators prove also to be committed to progressive goals (opposing imperialism, ending genocide, etc.), what of it? And should they prove to be members of a different minority group, as opposed to the more politically convenient white supremacists, what of it?

The law does not — or at least should not — play favourites. Should prosecutors fail to bring charges in these cases, and should presiding justices fail to hand down proper sentences of the sort that would both remove genuine threats from our society and disincentivize others who might follow suit, they will have failed in their duties.

It is incumbent upon elected representatives to take responsibility in such cases, both by removing officials who fail to take these crimes seriously, and in ensuring that their replacements recognize that they have an obligation to the law and to the wider body of law-abiding citizens, not to the interests of criminal (and potentially terrorist) elements.

After all, would the perpetrators of the Bondi Beach massacre have been shamed by rhetoric about hate having no place here? Would the perpetrators of the 2015 Paris attacks have feared that their murderous goals were at odds with the norms of liberal societies? To ask is to answer. No serious person supposes that these weak responses are remotely adequate in the face of the threats at hand.

As this week’s parallel attack on the U.S. Consulate in Toronto should make clear, this is ultimately not about minority protections or liberal tolerance. It is about sovereignty. Either the legitimate governing authorities exercise meaningful control within the country they claim to hold dear, or they cede neighbourhood after neighbourhood, city after city, to those who don’t.

Otherwise, they have forgotten a basic truth of political rule: even the most liberal of sovereigns must wield a sword. Use it now, as delay will not make it any easier.

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