Hi,

Before I start, I'd like to be clear on something. This is my throw-away account. I don't like to make my political opinions public.

I'm an Arab. I live in an Arab country in the Middle East. I have never visited Canada in my life. But to be honest? I think you all have one of the greatest countries in the world.

After I heard the news that the United States put a "pause" on migrants and refugees coming into the U.S. (I'm going somewhere with this, bear with me), I tried to brush it off as just another Western political affair. Let me tell you guys, it is completely normal for us to hear news like this and brush it off, at least on a public level. That is to say, we all get deeply affected by it, but we don't make much effort to do anything other than to go on Facebook or Twitter and make our opinions heard online.

The series of actions that followed is what surprised me - a lot. I have never expected for the people of the United States to even bother with activism for an affair that involves Arabs, or even Muslims. We saw people protesting at airports. We saw lawyers taking their time to help people detained at airports. We saw government officials going against the executive order. This really warmed my heart. It really showed that despite what the media threw to the people of the West, they knew better than to think that "All Muslims are bad people."

And then came the Quebec mosque shootings. Before I get into this point, I'd like to extend my sincere condolences to the people affected by the attack. I'd also like to extend my gratitude to the Canadian people for coming together as one to show their support for those affected.

Anyway, I followed the news rigorously on this. I really wanted to know how the Canadian people, and the Canadian government would react to something like this.

Man, I cried. I legit cried.

Your PM Justin Trudeau wasted no time and did not hold back. He labeled it as a terrorism attack. Almost every source of Canadian media that I could find, for whatever reason, labeled it as a terrorism attack as well. You might think that this isn't a big deal. Again, as an Arab, who lives in the Middle East, and who is exposed to Western media on a regular basis, it is a HUGE deal. If the exact same thing happened in the US, he would have either been:

1 - Insane 2 - An activist 3 - A serial murderer

Basically, anything but the big T word. Why? Because he's Caucasian and has no ties to the Middle East.

And then I saw how various people and functions of the government was against it. This includes government officials, and the police. It's like everyone is totally aligned with what happened. Everyone was united against a common enemy. Everyone felt the hurt, as if one of their own was attacked.

But what really got to me was when when PM Trudeau's office complained, publicly, that Fox News' Tweet about the suspect being Moroccan was incorrect, and said this quote in particular: *"These tweets by Fox News dishonour the memory of the six victims and their families by spreading misinformation, playing identity politics, and perpetuating fear and division within our communities."

So not only did I witness a government, its functions, and its peoples come together to call something what it was, I also witnessed the PM's office tell an American news channel to get their facts straight and not blame someone just because he's an Arab. In the 27 years of my life as being an Arab and a Muslim, I have never, ever experienced this.

My story isn't making sense because I'm emotional right now. But if I could leave you all with one message, it would be this:

Your government is amazing. Your people are amazing. Your country is amazing. Thank you for not letting public opinion get the better hand in your country. Thank you for standing by the principles that matter.

I'm getting married soon, and I discussed with my wife-to-be about moving to Canada permanently. I'd love to support your government and become an outstanding citizen (in time, of course). I hope one day I will make this move. It might be hard but I think it would be worth it.

Thank you, Canada. Stay awesome.