The new year is getting off to a tumultuous start as increasingly aggressive anti-Israel protests continue to erupt across the country with impunity as police officers impotently stand by.
The double standard in law enforcement has citizens scratching their heads as nothing appears to make sense anymore.
Consistent and equal application of the law is a bedrock principle in any democratic society. Citizens must feel safe in going about their everyday lives. People should know they will be protected from extremists and that law enforcement won’t allow them or their businesses to be targeted for abuse and harassment due to their ethnicity or religion. That appears to have been tossed out the window in Canada of late as social disorder spreads while the right to free media is openly and thuggishly suppressed.
One doesn’t need to appreciate the in-your-face style reporting of David Menzies and Rebel Media to understand the importance of allowing the outlet to do its work. Tailing public figures and barraging them with questions when they aren’t at planned media events is an annoying practice, but it isn’t an illegal one. Many scoops of public importance have been garnered that way, as people have let their guard down and answered questions they weren’t prepared to.
The scene was galling and chilling as a plainclothes RCMP officer purposely bumped Menzies and then escalated the scene by roughly throwing him against a wall and accusing him of assaulting a police officer. The bizarre incident only got worse as other officers piled in on the scene, and no fewer than four of them took part in handcuffing Menzies and escorting him into a police vehicle.
Menzies was loud about the affair as is his nature, but again, he certainly didn’t do anything illegal. That was proven as the charges were dropped and he was released a few hours later. We can rest assured this is far from over, however, as Rebel Media isn’t inclined to let this kind of abuse go. Nor should it.
If Menzies had been impeding Freeland’s movement or had appeared threatening (he did neither), the intervention of police could have been justified. Intervention in that case at most should have involved an officer politely but firmly moving Menzies aside and telling him to back off.
The actions against Menzies weren’t just those of one rogue officer. Many officers were present and not one questioned the excessive use of force and application of ridiculous charges. One must ask, just who do these officers think they are?
Can Canada still consider itself a civilized society?
Ideally in a democratic state, the police are respected rather than feared. Canada’s police forces appear determined to instil fear among reporters, and aren’t respected by hostile, aggressive protesters.
Respect for police forces in Canada is falling to all-time lows.
While police appeared eager to crack down upon and arrest the Freedom Convoy protesters in Ottawa in 2022, they seem to have handcuffed themselves when it comes to dealing with growing and hostile anti-Israel protesters.
As respect for police forces continues to decline, public disorder will increase. Not only among protesters but among frustrated and emboldened counter-protesters as they feel compelled to take the law into their own hands.
It shouldn’t be too hard to find the line between rushing in to crack skulls of protesters or serving them coffee and donuts, yet police forces seem unable to do so.
Nothing is making sense this year, and it’s only going to get worse until police learn how to equally apply the law.
