Anti-radicalization plans include hallway monitors

Collège Maisonneuve will have a roving team of four counsellors or social workers patrolling hallways in the fall term as part of efforts to prevent radicalization, Higher Education Minister Hélène David said Friday.

Meanwhile, Quebec will introduce classes on preventing extremism for police technology students and sensitize municipalities across the province, said Municipal Affairs Minister Martin Coiteux.

The measures were among several mentioned at an update on the province’s ongoing efforts to combat radicalization.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre and Immigration Minister Kathleen Weill also took part in the news conference, held almost a year after 23 mayors from around the world met in Montreal to discuss how to prevent violence stemming from radicalization.

On Wednesday, the city announced it was setting up a specialized police unit to document

and analyze hate incidents — any act that can affect the sense of security of a person because of his or her race, ethnic origin, language, religion, gender sexual orientation, age or disability.

Weill said research on radicalization, like a recent report by the Collège de Maisonneuve, is helping guide the government’s antiradicalization efforts.

Quebec funded the college’s report after the departure or attempted departure toward Syria of about 20 people, including several

students at the college, and the arrests of two former students on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack.

Weill said the government will also provide a $120,000 subsidy to the province’s human rights commission to develop a strategy on radicalization

Preventing violent extremism is as much about building a more inclusive society as about stepping up surveillance, the politicians noted.

The report by Collège de Maisonneuve found media coverage of the students’ departure for Syria caused

Muslim students to feel they were under a spotlight, creating “zones of fragility” that could make some vulnerable to extremism.

What’s needed is a “balance between openness and vigilance,” Coderre said.

The mayor said that since March 2015 the city’s radicalization hotline has received 762 calls, of which 168 required a follow-up, and of which 14 were referred to police.

“It means that we have a pretty safe place but we focus on the living together, bringing people together and make sure that we cover the angles so the worst won’t happen,” Coderre said.