The government of Canada refrained from condemning the terror attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota, as reported by Walla. The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, called them “violent extremism” in his speech at the General Assembly.
Trudeau continued in his restrained policy towards Islamists, drawing a line between Islamist extremism and terror, despite the fact that while not all Islamists are terrorist, the vast majority of terrorists are Islamist, as was the Chelsea bomber.
In his first speech before the General Assembly, Trudeau said, “Once again New Yorkers showed us how to be resilient and resolute in the face of violent extremism.”
“Let me say directly to the people of New York," he continued, "you are a model to the world and we thank you.”
Trudeau also made a point of referring to the current political race in the Unites States, referring to his own election campaign almost a year ago and saying that anger, fear, and anxiety should not be exploited for political gain.
"To exploit anxiety?" he said, "To turn it into fear and blame? To reject others because they look, or speak, or pray differently than we do?"
These words were Trudeau’s first public responses to the attacks in New York. Canada has refrained from making a public statement in response to the attacks.
In an interview with a Canadian Muslim newspaper in 2014, officials said that a distinction must be made between Islamism and terrorism. The Canadian foreign minister stated that Islam is a religion of tolerance and that ISIS does not represent Islam.