Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a closing press conference following the G20 Summit in Antalya, Turkey on Monday, November 16, 2015.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
The responses to the depraved terror attacks in Paris have been many, but perhaps a simple tweet from one Frenchman was the most fitting. "Coucou les fous, on boit des coups!" tweeted the Parisian, his message accompanied by a photo of him and a friend smiling and having a late-night drink on a sidewalk café.
Defiant, funny, true to their values and unwilling to let common criminals dictate their lives, the two men – along with hundreds of other Parisians who tweeted similar photos with the hashtag #occupyterrasse – spoke for all people who have no intention of letting the weak use violence to control the strong.
That is precisely why Canada and other nations that are taking in Syrian refugees should not waver in the wake of the Paris attacks.
What does the Islamic State want? It wants to create a world-wide religious war. It wants you to fear and hate Muslims. It wants you to view your neighbours with suspicion. It wants to you to stop helping the desperate people it wants to kill.
Above all, IS wants you to think it has its tentacles everywhere, and that it is powerful and growing.
But IS is weak. It is hemmed into a shrinking corner of the Middle East and under attack from powerful nations that outgun and outman it. It is vilified by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Desperate, it is turning to international terrorism, because if it can get the West to hate Muslims and strike back in a kneejerk fashion against them, it will be able to recruit more members and possibly find a way to survive.
As part of that, IS would love it if Western countries shut their doors to Syrian refugees. It would be a huge victory, one handed to the terrorists on Monday by 16 craven U.S. state governors who announced they will not accept Syrian refugees because of the attacks on Paris.
Thankfully, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the Paris attacks will not alter Canada's plan to bring in 25,000 refugees by the end of this year. That was the only correct response.
That said, and as Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall urged on Monday, there will be no harm done if Ottawa slows the process to ensure that there are enough officials with enough time to properly screen all refugees. But that was an issue before the attacks, as we wrote last week. Paris changes nothing.
No doubt many in Canada feel scared and vulnerable after seeing what happened in Paris, and in Beirut, Lebanon, a day earlier, where two IS suicide bombers killed 43 people. But we can't let terrorists control who we are and what we stand for. Coucou les fous.