IN THE WEEKS after the twin towers in New York City fell, the Canadian government made it clear that Muslim citizens were not to be blamed for the carnage meted out on Canada’s southern neighbour. In this regard, it followed the Bush administration, which called Islam a religion of sound teachings.

The government’s actions were meant to allay national anxieties about the enemy within. In the days after 9/11, suspicion of the Muslim had intensified. Fears of divided loyalties and fifth columns emerged, compounded by a legacy of orientalist stereotypes and images of brown-skinned terrorists that became fodder for countless 1980s and ’90s action movies.

But upon closer examination, it would be more accurate to say that the state sought a monopoly over the representation of the nation and the right to defend it. The government resorted to a dual strategy of publicly positioning Muslims as allies to Western civilization while privately sanctioning pervasive state surveillance of Muslim communities. The strategy reflected the government’s aim of keeping the peace at home while avoiding overt violations of the democratic and liberal values upon which Canada’s national identity and civilizational superiority had been constructed during the Cold War.