Any Canadian Dopers in the urban, southern Ontario terrorist targeted kill zones?

[Malthus]

@astorian

I’ve been reading some of the news coverage, and two things stand out:

1. The Canadian police and media are going out of their way to downplay the Islamic angle to this incident. What I keep reading is, the suspects represent a wide spectrum of Canadian society… so, there are lots of Francophones among the terrorists? Lotsa Catholics? Lotsa Cree Indians? Anybody who WASN’T a Muslim?

2. The Canadian authorities seem far less troubled by the FACT that radical Muslims wanted to blow people up than by the POSSIBILITY that there might be some backlash against innocent Muslims.

Canadian here. I work downtown in First Canadian Place, a possible target.

Can’t say I’ve noticed EITHER of these two “stand out points” myself.

Yes, there is some concern that this will lead to an anti-Muslim backlash. IMHO that’s a legitimate issue.

But to claim that this issue is more troubling to anyone up here is a truly absurd bit of hyperbole.

Lots of discussion about radical Islam in today’s Globe & Mail - I simply do not see anyone downplaying the “islamic angle”.

[astorian]

@Malthus

Canadian here. I work downtown in First Canadian Place, a possible target.

Can’t say I’ve noticed EITHER of these two “stand out points” myself.

Yes, there is some concern that this will lead to an anti-Muslim backlash. IMHO that’s a legitimate issue.

But to claim that this issue is more troubling to anyone up here is a truly absurd bit of hyperbole.

Lots of discussion about radical Islam in today’s Globe & Mail - I simply do not see anyone downplaying the “islamic angle”.

Okay, maybe we’ll have to agree to disagree. But let’s look here:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060603.wterrorfamilies0603/BNStory/National

“Broad strata,” eh? I guess I have a different definition of “broad” than the Globe & Mail.

[RickJay]

That Globe article mentions the fact that they’re all Muslims over and over again:

The majority sported the traditional Muslim male beard.
…
“The people that were arrested are good people. They go to the mosque. They go to school, go to college.”
…
Aly Hindy, an imam at the Salaheddin Islamic Centre in nearby Scarborough, said the centre’s mosque had been monitored by security agencies for years.
…
Attique operated an Islamic bookstore from the home, but neighbours drew up a petition last year calling for the business to be shut down because it was being operated in a residential neighbourhood.

…members of the city’s Muslim community were at a loss as to who the men were and what they were doing in this eastern Ontario city.

I have been asking around and no one seems to know them,” Hafizur Rahman, president of the Islamic Centre of Kingston told the Ottawa Sun.

However, Haseeb Khan, president of the Muslim Students’ Association at Queen’s, also didn’t recognize the men’s names.

Note the Globe’s implied assumption that since the suspect were Muslims, the local Muslim talking heads should be expected to know who they are.

The “Broad strata” comment is a QUOTE, not the Globe’s editorial position.

Jesus, people are being hypersensitive about this. What do you expect, for them to just randomly insert the word “Muslim” every third word? The media’s done a fine job reporting this story. There’s no need for witch hunts.