After Paris, centre to prevent radicalization fields deluge of calls
From March 9 to Nov. 13, Montreal’s centre for the prevention of radicalization leading to violence received 368 calls on its hotline.
Ninety of them were about youths with “worrisome” or “alarming” behaviours; six involved individuals deemed potentially dangerous to themselves or the community.
Then the attacks in Paris happened — and the centre went into overdrive.
“Now everyone’s calling,” said the centre’s director, Herman Okomba-Deparice, adding that two cases called in to the centre since the attacks in Paris warranted police attention.
“I’m talking to everyone, from New Brunswick to Belgium. And I feel the moral duty to reassure Quebecers and tell them, let’s not go on a witch hunt ... We can’t guarantee nothing will happen here. There is no zero risk. But the cases I’ve been told about do not make me feel we’re in danger.”
The centre, as well as a new website for signalling potential cases — Info-Radical.org — were inaugurated Sunday.
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre spearheaded the initiative in March after it was discovered that eight Quebec youths left for war zones in the Middle East, allegedly to join terrorist groups, and another 10 attempted to leave but were stopped by the RCMP at the airport.
Coderre named Okomba-Deparice as director based on his 10 years of work with the police on racial profiling. On a budget of $2 million — half paid by the city, half by the provincial government — the centre has trained 100 police officers to detect and respond to signs of violent extremism, while 11 new staff members have met with school principals across the city.
The centre has worked with families whose children have become radicalized, and based on their experience it has developed what it believes are powerful tools for working with radicalized youths before they reach a point of no return.
From his corner office, OkombaDeparice presents an elaborate flow chart on the process of radicalization — from when youths start to question their place in society, to when they decide to commit or encourage acts of violence.
Pointing to a box in the middle of the chart, he says somewhere on that path is the search for answers with family, friends or mentors, at school, work, community centres or on the Internet.
“This is where you find Collège de Maisonneuve,” he said, referring to the CEGEP (the Quebec equivalent of a community college) where 11 youths attended classes before they left or tried to leave for Syria.
Depending on what kind of answers the youths get at this middle stage, they will then move toward “pro-social” attitudes or become indoctrinated toward violence.
“Those youths did not wake up one day wanting to fight with (ISIL),” Okomba-Deparice said. “It’s a process.”
After the Paris attacks, Okomba-Deparice feels it necessary to debunk certain myths that have been circulating. In one interview, a Quebec City journalist suggested
We have to avoid painting everyone with the same brush and falling back on discussion of us and them.
all Montreal mosques are led by radical imams preaching jihad. Okomba-Deparice said he was outraged at the suggestion.
“People are feeling vulnerable and looking for answers. But we have to avoid painting everyone with the same brush and falling back on discussion of us and them.”
For the benefit of social workers, police and parents, the centre has developed a “barometer of behaviours” ranging from insignificant (growing a beard or wearing traditional clothing) to alarming: recruiting individuals to a violent cause or making physical or financial preparations to commit violent actions guided by ideological motives. Only in these extreme cases does the centre, which is independent of law enforcement, share the information with police.