Muslim groups want to help protect youth from radicalization
There was a tinge of envy in Shahina Siddiqui’s voice as she learned of the Quebec government’s new action plan to fight radicalization, centred around a provincewide hotline.
Speaking from her office in Winnipeg, where she is president of the Islamic Social Services Association, she said she has not been able to secure the funding needed to start the same kind of hotline to reach youth and their families in Manitoba, or the backing of the Manitoba or federal government for her team of counsellors.
Only Quebec so far has answered the call.
On Wednesday, Public Security Minister Lise Thériault and Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil, flanked by Mayor Denis Coderre, announced they would provide half of the $2 million budget needed to get a deradicalization centre in Montreal up and running — the first of its kind in North America — and introduce dozens of other measures to prevent, detect and act against ideological violence.
The plan comes in the wake of two homegrown terrorist attacks last October, and as the province grapples with a wave of youth having left or attempting to leave in recent months to join extremist groups abroad.
Seven young people boarded planes to Turkey in January, allegedly en route to Syria, and another 10 were intercepted at Trudeau airport in May.
The hotline, opened in Montreal three months ago, will now receive calls from across the province from family members, teachers, friends or coaches concerned about someone becoming radicalized or being groomed to commit violent acts. And those calls will be confidential, and answered by trained counsellors — not police, Thériault said.
“It’s false to think every case requires police intervention,” said Thériault. “It’s the responsibility of all of us. Now the resources are there to help us prevent radicalization in Quebec.”
The centre will be headed by Herman Okomba-Deparice, a specialist in cultural sensitivity issues and radicalization who has worked for the Montreal police.
At the same time, a dedicated police squad will be created to monitor social media platforms to detect people trying to recruit others to commit violence. ISIL, for example, sends out more than 50,000 tweets a day.
The province will also fund research — some of it in conjunction with Collège de Maisonneuve where several radicalized youths attended classes — to look into the causes of extremist violence in Quebec and how to counter it.
And training will be given to teachers and social workers on how to detect and deal with people who have become radicalized, modelled on the experience of Belgium and France.
For Siddiqui, who has just undergone training with Extreme Dialogue, and an expert from Germany who worked with the Hayat organization, training — and vetting — is key.
“The No. 1 thing is how well they vet the people they train. It really depends on the people and how well they are educated and trained in the core values of Islam, but also in how recruitment takes place and how to address it,” said Siddiqui, who was one of the authors of a handbook produced in conjunction with the RCMP called United Against Terrorism. “If you do not have the right people answering the hotline, we could end up making more of a mess.”
Salam Elmenyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, who says the imams in his council reach about 60 per cent of the city’s Muslim population, also believes in the partnership approach the mayor and the province are taking. But they haven’t reached out to him.
“We can find ways to work together and tell them about issues relating to the Muslim community,” Elmenyawi said. “But we don’t even know about (what they’re doing) and at same time they are enacting laws on honour killings and reinforcing stereotypes. Instead of being productive and helpful it adds to the current problem.
“I’m concerned (about these youth) too — and so is my community. We have to find out why this is happening, and find ways to show kids it’s a one-way trip. We need all resources available to reach those kids.”
Asked whether the centre and hotline are directed exclusively at Muslims, Coderre insisted they weren’t. “I’m from a place where we had street gangs — that’s a form of radicalization too. How do we help a kid from falling into a trap? We have to be careful in our message and the way we are addressing radicalization. We need to fight Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and any kind of intolerance.” Siddiqui agreed. “The situation is not as bad as the media makes it out to be, but I know we have an issue and I need to stop it. It’s not about Muslims but about Canadian youth. Why is (recruitment) not treated as human trafficking? ... The only power we have is to come together against ISIS — they are dividing us and the Islamophobes are dividing us.”
It’s the responsibility of all of us. Now the resources are there to help us prevent radicalization in Quebec.