There are definitely people who make good choices in society and people who make not so great choices in society. I definitely don't think it's everyone in society who's going around spreading hate and making hateful comments.
For example, I can remember at university that there was a time when someone decided they were going to put Islamophobic posters all around the campus. They decided after school one day that they were going to print out hundreds of these posters and put them around the university. Of course, when we saw those posters, we were not surprised, because this is the narrative that we've been living in. We see it in the media and all these things, but we were silent, of course. What came out of that is that every time there's a tragedy— something comes out in the media or something negative happens—a lot of positive comes out afterwards as well. We've seen this with the London, Ontario tragedy as well, where we've had a chance to see the amazing things that happen, the amazing people in the world and the amazing acts they do.
A lot of times people are just holding their opinions in, even if they're positive. Many times when they're negative, they like to proclaim them and shout them out, but many times when they're positive, they don't feel the need to stand with people, hold vigils, give support or be an ally. When things like this happen, then you really see the beautiful fabric of Canada and the beautiful multiculturalism get together.
I definitely do not think that everyone has these hateful thoughts in their mind. Maybe they have prejudices that come from birth. Some people are trying to unlearn them; some people are accepting them, but there are many people in Canada who are, in fact, being allies, whether it's for Muslim groups, whether it's for Black communities or whether it's for indigenous groups. We saw that with the indigenous community when that horrible gravesite was found. I see so many people in my neighbourhood now who have orange shirts in their windows. That's amazing to see as well.
Thank you.