Two ISIL hopefuls back in Canada

Six still in Syria, RCMP reports

Eight months have passed since a group of Quebec youths packed their bags and boarded planes to the Middle East, allegedly to join ISIL or other terrorist groups, disappearing to an uncertain fate.

Now, however, two of the youths have quietly returned to Quebec, under the watchful eye of the RCMP, the Montreal Gazette has learned.

In documents obtained through access to information legislation by Postmedia, the RCMP revealed that in fact two of the eight wouldbe foreign fighters were already in its sights before they left, and that two of them have come back.

“The RCMP is aware that a total of eight individuals from the Montreal area left Canada in January 2015 with the intention of travelling to participate in terrorist activities,” the document reads. “Only two of these individuals were known to the RCMP prior to their departure. We know that two of the eight individuals have since returned to Canada with the remaining six believed to be in Syria.”

The information is contained in briefing notes that RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson had in his possession March 6, as he addressed the House Public Safety Committee in Ottawa.

That was the day Paulson presented for the first time the cellphone video shot by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau moments before he stormed Parliament in October, with 18 seconds edited from the beginning and end.

Asked this week for additional information about the two youths — how they made their way back to Canada, and whether they are under investigation or the subject of criminal charges — neither the Quebec RCMP nor the national headquarters would provide details.

The Combating Terrorism Act, passed in 2013, made it a crime to leave the country or attempt to leave the country to engage in terrorist activities — crimes that come with penalties of 10 to 14 years in prison but that are often difficult to prove.

“The RCMP does not confirm if certain individuals are the subject of an investigation unless criminal charges are laid,” RCMP spokesperson Annie Delisle said.

The return of the two youths was news to Herman Okomba-Deparice, the director of Montreal’s new centre for the prevention of radicalization leading to violence, and the man charged with helping re-integrate any returnees into society.

“I have no knowledge of this,” Okomba-Deparice said. “But I think I should be involved. The problem — and I’ve been saying this for a while — is that we have to ensure that people who return are not a threat to national security and don’t become agents of radicalization. That’s one of our roles.”

Indeed, the revelation raises long-simmering concerns over what to do with radicalized youths, if and when they return to Canada.

In Quebec, four people are detained or under a peace bond because they are suspected of terrorist activities.