Celebrating Freedom, Experiencing Terror

"My concern for the women of Afghanistan or Pakistan, it's really concern for these women who need champions to speak on their behalf. Malala [Yousafzai] has been a great champion."
Conservative Senator Salma Ataullahjan

"[Malala Yousafzai issued a cri de coeur against those within the Muslim world hostile to the education of girls speaking of] a global struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism."
"Let us pick up our books and pens, they are our most powerful weapons."
"One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world."
Malala Yousafzai, 2014 Nobel Laureate

Malala Yousafzai, the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize at 17-year-old, will receive honorary Canadian citizenship, putting her in the company of Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi and the 14th Dalai Lama.    (Darren Staples/REUTERS)

This was the day that the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, was set to go to Toronto to appear at the "Strong Girls, Strong World" event taking place there. Malala Yousafzai would be the honoured guest. Wednesday was the day that he would honour this Pakistani young woman's courage and her campaign on behalf of girls in the Muslim world and beyond deserving of an education. The plan was to award her with the rare presentation of honourary Canadian citizenship.

This is an honour that has been bestowed seldom. To the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg whose determination and defiance in the face of fearsomely deadly Nazi domination saved thousands of Jews from the death chambers, a post-mortem honour. To the Dalai Lama a recognition of his place in the world as an international messenger of peace and a prick to the conscience of those who decry China's totalitarian oppression of minorities.

For Malala Yousafzai the recognition would be in honour of her having the stolid determination to dangerously defy the decree of the Taliban-led hill tribe leaders of Pakistan, denying education to girls. She was awarded the punitive distinction of being shot in the head in October 2012 in recognition by the Taliban of the influence that a young girl could wield in her defiance of their deadly orders to obey and remain modestly silent in the face of misogynistic oppression.

Her ongoing promotion for the schooling of girls has brought her the recognition that infuriates fundamentalist Islamists. Her survival after her ordeal with restorative surgery bringing her back to robust health after months of recovery helped her to become an international symbol of the heroism of girls in the face of threats to keep them dependent on the whims of men in an an achronistic paternalistic society based on the subservience of women.

But the day dawned inclement to the purpose at hand. Violent Islamist attackers of the very mould of those who had shot Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan imposed their vision of jihadist fascism in the capital of Canada, killing a member of the Armed Forces on guard before the National War Memorial and going on to attack the very seat of government in the Canadian Parliament, effectively shutting down Parliament and the centre of the capital for the day, while security forces attempted to restore order and security.

Canadians who felt they had good reason to believe that the violence and terroristic fear that plagued countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Syria would never drop by their doorsteps have discovered that Islamist fanaticism has tentacles everywhere, even in liberal democracies that pride themselves on their pluralistic outlook of equality and liberty. Attacks that take place in faroff Pakistan can also plague peaceful Canada.