Restaurants come and go – that’s the nature of the business. But no one in in our country should be forced to close their restaurant because they fear for their lives and for the safety of their employees and customers.

The popular Syrian restaurant Soufi’s shut its doors earlier this week after staff received multiple death threats and messages of hate. On Friday, those doors were reopened. My management team at Paramount Fine Foods is going to run the restaurant for a while so owners Husam and Shahnaz Al-Soufi can take some time away.

It has been an emotional week for them. First, the panic of receiving death threats – and fearing the worst for themselves, their family and their workers. Then, the solace of receiving hundreds of heartfelt messages from Torontonians and Canadians offering support and sympathy.

My friend Husam was brave in speaking to the media on Thursday: “We do not wish to be a tragic example for future immigrants and refugee business owners – as the business that gave in to hate.” At one point behind the scenes, he sighed and told me: “Mohamad, we just want to live and work in peace and love.”

Husam and Shahnaz came to Canada from Syria in 2015. They were sponsored by a community group, like so many others from that war-torn country. They put their passion into building a great restaurant offering traditional Syrian street food. I have hired more than 150 Syrian refugees at my Paramount restaurants, so it didn’t surprise me that Husam and Shahnaz had the creativity and drive to make Soufi’s a big success.

It is shocking how quickly a few hateful voices can undermine years of hard work. For many of us, it is even more shocking that this can happen in Toronto, one of the world’s great multicultural cities.

Here is the truth as I see it: Most Canadians are welcoming of newcomers. Most celebrate the diverse nature of our population – and the inclusive nature of our society. They understand that it makes Canada stronger.

But those who are intolerant are becoming louder. Those who hate are becoming bolder.

I, too, have been a target. I know how it feels. I have seen the unease in my wife’s eyes. I watched my children shake in fear as a racist shouted hate at us. My kids struggle to understand why anyone would care about how they look or where their family is from.

The federal election campaign has given us a number of troubling moments as well: NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh being casually urged to “cut off” his turban to “look more like a Canadian”; the leader of the Bloc Québécois urging voters to support candidates that “resemble you”; the silence from most political leaders over Quebec’s Bill 21, a law that plainly discriminates against minority Canadians.

It is true that Justin Trudeau, alone among federal leaders, says he will consider intervening in the Bill 21 court challenge. Still, for an immigrant like me, watching Andrew Scheer and others refuse to speak out against this discriminatory law has been disheartening.

In such moments, it is important to remind ourselves that there are more good people than bad people in Canada – far more. There are more who welcome newcomers than fear them. But our numbers only matter if we speak up together and condemn the intolerant among us.

We need to send them back to the dark corners of the Internet and make clear that their views are not welcome in our Canada. We need to demonstrate that theirs will always be a losing battle.

The reopened restaurant’s profits will go to the family. The employees who lost their jobs when Soufi’s closed are being rehired. For me, this is about defending the country I love – and standing up for the values that define us as Canadians.

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We must never allow ourselves to become silent witnesses to hate. Whether it’s at the ballot box or in the workplace, on the street or online, we must stand up and speak out against those who want to divide us.

We must take clear and decisive action and proclaim to the intolerant among us that they will never win. Hate will never win.

Dr. Mohamad Fakih is CEO of Paramount Fine Foods and chair of the Fakih Foundation.

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