Anti-radicalization leader thinks bigger after terror scare
After RCMP thwarted a major terror threat in Ontario last week, Mohamed El-Rafih knew that his community anti-radicalization initiatives were more urgently needed than ever.
El-Rafih is best known in Calgary’s Muslim community as the creator of an anti-radicalization program that he calls Fostering Youth Inclusiveness (or FYI). The program is a day camp for children aged five to 12 that aims to fight radicalization by tackling the feeling of isolation that some Muslim children experience while trying to integrate into western society.
Now, after RCMP narrowly avoided what was said to be a planned major terrorist attack on an urban centre, El-Rafih is gathering a group of local politicians, police, religious leaders and Muslim community members on Thursday to see how his programs can be expanded and brought to high schoolage youth.
“The purpose behind this meeting is to look at the messaging (we’ve come up with), and to get everybody’s opinion on … whether it is going to help us against radicalization,” El-Rafih said.
“There’s messaging for Muslims and there’s a message for non-Muslims. The message for Muslims is on how there could be misinterpretations on misguided imams and misguided leaders that could make youth vulnerable to radicalization.”
As far as non-Muslims go, El-Rafih’s message is on how the treatment of Muslim youths already troubled by isolation or mentalhealth problems could contribute to a path toward radicalization.
El-Rafih expects the Calgary police, RCMP and Darshan Kang, Liberal MP in the Calgary SkyView riding, to attend Thursday’s meeting, and hopes their input can help craft an effective message that will help to prevent the radicalization of teenage Muslims.
El-Rafih’s summer day camp, held at the Genesis Centre recreation facility in northeast Calgary, reached hundreds of children this year. El-Rafih aimed primarily to tackle radicalization at its roots by focusing on making Muslim children feel like they are a part of Canadian society.
A large part of the program involved spending time with children from other backgrounds in the community centre, as well as by focusing on sports and arts, rather than exclusively religion.