Heartbroken

I'm heartbroken by the events in Ottawa yesterday. I can't quite comprehend how we have two soldiers killed within two days of each other in Canada. The footage of the gunfire in the central corridor of Centre Block makes me cry.

I was privileged to work in the Canadian Parliament. Those buildings inspired me for public service. I first stepped inside when I was 16 thanks to a typing teacher who saw something in me I didn't see in myself and got me a scholarship to study politics and the law in Ottawa for a week. Walking into Centre Block was a dream come true. Every day I worked there over a decade later I counted myself lucky. I always thought of those buildings as sacred, as a secular cathedral of democracy.

I don't know many things about this attack. I do know that ramping up the rhetoric of Islamaphobia won't help and that we should ask ourselves why anyone wants to attacks us. I know that Canadians are kind and generous people, made of steel. Our compassion must know no limits because we are all connected. Our soldiers are peacekeepers, not because they lack bravery but because they know that war solves nothing.

I will leave you with a good editorial and these words:

"As news of the attack on Parliament came out on Wednesday morning, New York Times columnist Roger Cohen tweeted, “When Canada goes, it’s all over.” That provoked a backlash – a very Canadian backlash – on Twitter. A backlash against exaggeration, hysteria and despair. A backlash against overreaction and in favour of calming the hell down.

Canada isn’t going anywhere. Nothing about what makes us, us, is “over.” We have had a bad week. There is much loss to mourn. But we are still here. We are still standing. The True North remains, strong and free."