'We must keep our arms open to refugees', Couillard says after Paris attacks
Quebec will not turn its back on Syrian refugees, pledged Premier Philippe Couillard at his party's convention on Saturday, a day after more than 100 people were killed in Paris.
Caroline Plante, Montreal Gazette
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard.	Graham Hughes / THE CANADIAN PRESS
QUEBEC — Quebec will not turn its back on Syrian refugees, pledged Premier Philippe Couillard at his party's general council meeting on the weekend, moments after Islamic State terrorists killed at least 129 people and wounded more than 300 in Paris.
The province, he insisted, is forging ahead with plans to welcome nearly 6,000 Syrian refugees by the year-end. "We must keep our arms open to refugees," Couillard said, adding proper security checks will be conducted. "They have fled their villages, they have seen their parents murdered and sometimes in front of their eyes. They come here in search of peace and freedom."
"Always remember that the Syrian refugees that will come to Quebec are themselves the first victims of terror."
A banner hanging from an overpass in Quebec City last week proclaimed "Refugees, no thank you." And a Quebec City man, Raynald Cloutier, gained notoriety when he launched an online petition "urging the Canadian government to suspend the arrival of 25,000 immigrants from Syria for reasons of national security." By Sunday afternoon, his petition had collected close to 32,000 signatures.
To say "They're all like that, we don't want them" is a normal human reaction, said Liberal MNA Rita de Santis. But she and Quebec Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée said they hoped not to witness any more of these events that fuel anti-Muslim sentiment. "We have seen it over the last few weeks, this banner in Quebec City. We have seen it also in comments posted on social media, this intolerance of others," she said.
The Paris attacks became the main topic of discussion at the general council meeting, with delegates observing a minute of silence while the colours of the French flag lit up centre stage.
And Couillard completely re-jigged his opening speech to Liberal party members Saturday. "No to xenophobia and racism, no to exclusion, yes to welcoming and shared citizenship," he said before a cheering crowd.
Couillard told reporters he feared Quebecers would become "even more entrenched" and would close their arms instead of opening them. He warned opposition parties not to fan the flames of racism. "Sometimes, involuntarily, by adopting certain policies that seem easy, that seem to respond to what one thinks the population wants, one fans the flames of the demons that exist here and everywhere else."
"Each society has its demons. This is why it's important for political leaders to step forward … and say no to xenophobia, no to racism, yes to security, yes to war if we have to wage war to those terrorists," he added heatedly.
Strong, unified action against ISIL
Couillard, who has a son in the Canadian Armed Forces, said the democratic world is at war with the Islamic State.
He said ISIL is a "deadly enemy that has to be confronted with proportional force" including, he said, deadly force.
Fighting violence with violence is responsible, Couillard continued. "It's a war," he said. "And war is violent."
"These people, these barbaric terrorists, they want to destroy democracy, they hate democracy, they hate freedom, they hate freedom of speech, they hate political debate like we have here today. They want to see this disappear from the planet and have their own very distorted view of society and humanity come forward, and this is why we are in a war, in a very different war that our fathers and grandfathers knew, but still a war."
Couillard urged Canada to join multilateral efforts to combat terrorism and "play the role our allies want us to play."
This has put him at odds with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who reiterated his intention to put an end to the current Canadian bombing mission against ISIL.
Despite recent events, the country's state of alert remains low, said Acting Public Security Minister Pierre Moreau.
"So far, we here in Quebec and in Canada have information that there's no elevated threat since the sad events that occurred in Paris," Moreau said, adding the last 48 hours had been particularly difficult for him due to the fact that his 26-year-old daughter was at the Bataclan theatre on Thursday.
The Bataclan hall is where gunmen shot and killed 80 people on Friday.
Paris Climate Change conference
Moreover, world leaders are supposed to meet in the City of Lights starting Nov. 30 to take part in the long-planned United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Couillard said he is in favour of maintaining the event, despite the terrorist threat.
"Cancelling it would tell these terrorists 'Here, we give you another victory'. Of course security concerns are going to be extremely complex for sure, given the number of heads of state that are going to be there, but … we should make sure that it takes place just to send a message that democracy is alive and freedom is alive and well."
France Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced over the weekend that the climate summit would start as planned, but with boosted security.
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