OP-ED: The Kirk assassination and Canada’s wake-up call

Dotan Rousso writes, "The shocking assassination of prominent activist Charlie Kirk in Utah marked a deeply troubling moment—not just for his followers, but for our broader public discourse."

Source: Facebook, Charlie Kirk

By Dotan Rousso

On September 10, 2025, the shocking assassination of prominent activist Charlie Kirk in Utah marked a deeply troubling moment—not just for his followers, but for our broader public discourse. According to law enforcement sources, Kirk was shot at close range while speaking to a small crowd at a conservative grassroots event. He died on the scene. The assailant, reportedly unknown before the attack, fled immediately and remains at large. Utah authorities have opened a homicide investigation; as of this moment of writing this op-ed, details remain scarce, but it is already clear this was more than a random act—it appears politically driven.

Who was Charlie Kirk? Far from a fringe element, Kirk built a national platform starting with Turning Point USA, where he harnessed social media and youth outreach to rally conservative, anti-establishment sentiment. He was an especially vocal defender of Israel—arguing not only for its right to exist but for strong U.S.-Israel ties in the face of growing global indifference. His commentary found huge traction among conservative college-aged audiences. By 2024, his YouTube channel had millions of subscribers and over a billion views, his podcast drew hundreds of thousands of daily listeners, and his social media platforms routinely reached audiences in the millions, with individual videos sometimes topping ten million views.

Kirk’s assassination illustrates the dangerous consequences of unchecked political extremism. Across the West—and increasingly here in Canada—we have allowed an environment to develop where anti-Israel and anti-Western narratives are normalized. Disinformation, deepfakes, and AI-generated propaganda are widely used to demonize Israel, while groups like Hamas and similar organizations are recast as victims.

How did we reach a point in the West, and in Canada, where such radical groups—the very same kind that Israel and the United States are fighting against—are praised and supported? These are organizations that suppress women, execute homosexuals, torture political opponents, and terrorize their own populations, yet they are often excused or even celebrated. Meanwhile, those who stand up to confront these ideologies are increasingly portrayed as villains or as embodiments of evil.

In such a climate, the assassination of an activist like Charlie Kirk should not come as a surprise—not if we’ve allowed misinformation and radicalism to metastasize unchecked. The casual cruelty of online propaganda, the soft-bigotry of mainstream platforms tolerating extremist narratives, and the broadcast of outright lies—all this festers into real-world violence.

It’s time for Western societies, Canada included, to define for themselves where the line is drawn. It’s not enough to pay lip service to tolerance. We must ask ourselves: how did we get to a point where voices calling for the elimination of a country such as Israel, or for the imposition of extremist theocratic ideologies, are applauded in academic forums, on social media, or even within political circles—while those who fight against these ideologies are vilified?

What begins on social platforms often ends in bullets or broken lives. The assassination of a voice like Charlie Kirk’s is a stark reminder: when we allow lies and hate to flourish—when we fail to challenge dangerous ideology—courage becomes the casualty. We Canadians must look into the mirror and assess how we’ve allowed such radicalism to take root, and how we can reclaim a public square where facts, decency, and safety prevail. Because what happened in the U.S. could happen here too.