Canada, what Comes Next?
Canada was once admired as a country where citizens were trusted to think for themselves. That is what attracted millions of immigrants, including those of us who escaped authoritarian regimes.
Today, I wonder whether that Canada still exists.
Under Justin Trudeau’s government, Canadians lost the ability to freely access and share news on Meta’s platforms. Rather than restoring that freedom, Mark Carney has chosen to continue the same policy.
Whether one supports Meta is irrelevant. The issue is much larger than one company. A free society depends on the unrestricted exchange of information. Citizens must be free to read, compare competing viewpoints, challenge governments, and reach their own conclusions. When governments become comfortable with limiting the flow of information, every Canadian should be concerned.
Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees freedom of thought, belief, opinion, expression, and a free press. Those are not symbolic words. They are the pillars of a democratic society.
Yet where is the public outrage?
Why are so many Canadians accepting restrictions that would once have been considered unacceptable? Why has questioning government become controversial? Why are so many willing to surrender liberty for the promise of convenience or security?
I ask these questions because I have seen this story before.
I witnessed the consequences of Iran’s 1979 Islamic coup/ “revolution”. Millions of gullible Iranians were promised by Rouhollah Khomeini and leftist groups, a brighter future. Instead, they were deceived. Step by step, freedom disappeared. Independent media vanished. Dissent became dangerous. Citizens who failed to speak while they still could eventually lost the right to speak at all.
Canada is not Iran. But no democracy is immune from complacency. Freedom is rarely destroyed overnight. It is weakened one compromise at a time, while citizens convince themselves that each new restriction is temporary, reasonable, or necessary.
Now another troubling development is emerging.
Mark Carney is considering reopening diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic occupying Iran under the language of “engagement” and “diplomacy.”
Canadians have every right to ask why. Why would Canada move closer to a regime internationally condemned for sponsoring terrorism, crushing dissent, taking hostages, exporting extremism, and threatening democracies? What message does this send to Iranian Canadians who fled that tyranny? How does this strengthen Canada’s security?
Canadians deserve honest answers, not carefully crafted slogans.
A free nation welcomes scrutiny. It does not discourage it. A confident government trusts its citizens with information instead of limiting their access to it.
The question is no longer whether Canada still has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The question is whether Canadians still possess the courage to defend it before more freedoms quietly disappear.
What comes next depends not only on those who govern—but on those who refuse to remain silent.