Column: Here’s your pipe bomb, son; carry on

Mohammed Adam of The Ottawa Citizen asks a valid question about the Edmonton teenager found at the airport with a pipe bomb and who was allowed to fly nonetheless. Did reverse racial profiling play a role?:

In our post-9/11 world, very little common sense is often applied when it comes to security. Once bitten, twice shy, the saying goes, and one can understand why the screws are always turned tight. However, it is heartening to see that in the Murphy case, both the Crown and the courts did not go overboard. Murphy deserves not to be in jail, but I can’t help wondering how an 18-year-old Rehan or Ali from suburban Ottawa or Calgary, who is caught in similar circumstances would have fared. Would the law have been truly equal and blind? We will probably never know.

Column: Here’s your pipe bomb, son; carry on.