As we publish this editorial, the Canadian families of victims of Flight 752 are trying to repatriate the remains of their loved ones.
It has been all but confirmed the plane was shot down by Russian-made missiles fired by Iran’s own military. We may never know with confidence whether it was through malice or gross incompetence.
What we do know is that, simply because they went to see their families, North Shore residents Ayeshe Pourghaderi, Fatemeh Pasavand, Naser Pourshabanoshibi, Firouzeh Madani, Delaram Dadashnejad, Daniel Saket, Faye Kazerani, and Soheila Massoumeh Moshref Razavi Moghaddam lost their lives in the fog of war.
On Sunday, Maple Leaf Foods CEO Michael McCain saw through that fog. Breaking every rule in the corporate communications handbook, he commandeered his company’s Twitter feed to sound off on what was, for him, as much personal as it was geopolitical.
The wife and seven-year-old son of his colleague were killed in the crash and McCain drew a direct line from an “ill-conceived plan to divert focus from political woes” in Washington to instigating a hostile but at least contained belligerent state in a perpetually unstable part of the world.
About 400 North Shore residents turned out to a vigil Tuesday night to grieve. But we also saw that grief turn to anger. We understand that anger but we also call on both sides to de-escalate hostilities.
When nations’ leaders play at war, far too often it is the innocents who are caught in the crossfire.
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