On Canada Day evening, I saw something that left me shocked. I was returning with some friends from Abbotsford when I spotted a parked freight train on the rail tracks along Highway 10. Handwritten on one of its cars was: "Islam sucks."

It was one of those moments I regret not having a camera with me.

As we passed Cloverdale’s Millennium Park where thousands of people had gathered to enjoy the fireworks, I was wondering if Canada has really changed since 9/11.

Outside the window of the car, I could see a number of immigrants and non-White Canadians enthusiastically heading to a carnival. Some of them could have been Muslims, whose religion was attacked in the disgusting slogan I had just seen.

One possible explanation for these scrawled words of hate could be the rising hostilities against Muslims in the western world following the 9/11 terrorist attack blamed on Islamic extremists.

There have been a number of hate attacks against the Muslims in the U.S. and elsewhere.

With the ongoing wars against terrorism in Islamic countries, and the stereotyping and racial profiling by the authorities and the media, the problem for Muslims has been further aggravated.

Right wing commentators even go to the extent of blaming their religion for international terrorism.

Canada, which boasts of being a champion of multiculturalism, is not immune to such hate propaganda. The racist slogan I saw is likely just one of many unreported hateful writings on Canada’s walls. Our authorities should come out of their state of denial and deal with this problem.

The Maher Arar story is a perfect example to show that everything is not OK in Canada. He suffered in a Syrian jail until there was an outcry in Canada that brought him freedom. He was handed over to Syria after U.S. authorities suspected him of being a terrorist. His only fault was that he was a Syrian Muslim. His Canadian citizenship did not get him any immediate help from Canadian authorities.

It’s not Islam that sucks; it’s the terrorism and racism that sucks. The people who are ignorant should read more and try to find the real roots of terrorism instead of targeting a particular religion.

Those who are unnecessarily upset with Islam should be upset with the U.S. and the Islamic fundamentalism it sponsored for its own ends in the past.