The scenes of carnage from the Berlin Christmas market terrorist attack all seem so far away, so disconnected from life in Canada.

But don’t think a similar tragedy couldn’t happen here. In fact, it already has. Just on a smaller scale.

On Oct. 20, 2014 — two days before the Parliament Hill attacks — Martin Couture-Rouleau sat waiting in his car at a shopping centre in the Quebec town of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.

When two Canadian Armed Forces soldiers appeared in his line of sight, he rammed his car into them. One of them, 53-year-old Patrice Vincent, died from his injuries.

The Quebec attack, the Berlin one, and the Bastille Day attack in France all used the same weapon — a vehicle rammed into people. It’s alarming because it’s so mundane. Anyone can do it at any time. And that’s exactly what the Islamic State has asked its supporters to do.

Couture-Rouleau was a recent convert to Islam and was irate at Canada’s support for the bombing mission against the Islamic State.

The so-called ISIS caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been calling on his followers to attack Western targets. Canada was even mentioned by name. We still get mentioned.

They’ve also said a number of times in their literature and videos that if their followers can’t make it to Iraq and Syria to fight for the caliphate, then they should do what the can on their own home front.

“Kill them and spit in their faces and run over them with your cars,” an ISIS video sent out to supporters says.

Since as early as a 2010 edition of an al-Qaida publication, Islamist terrorists have been calling for car and truck ramming attacks. The calls keep coming, and followers far and near keep answering them.

They’ve called for other improvised attacks too, like pressure cooker bombs. Those were what the Tsarnaev brothers used for the Boston Marathon bombings. And the brothers actually learned how to build them from reading one of the magazines. These instructions are clearly heard and work.

But even these makeshift bombs take some degree of effort and skill. Vehicular ramming doesn’t. And so far, they seem more successful too. The Boston pressure cooker killed three people. The Berlin attack killed 12. The Nice attack tally was 86.

Canada’s confirmed we’re keeping our involvement in the ISIS fight well into 2017. It’s the right thing to do, make no mistake about it. But it also means we won’t be removed from their hit list anytime soon.

afurey@postmedia.com