Mubin Shaikh, the former CSIS informant who helped to expose the Toronto-18 terror plot, says it is important for the community to get involved. Photo: Postmedia News/Files With more and more Canadians taking up arms in far-off conflict zones, the RCMP is embarking on an ambitious plan to try to identify young people at risk of becoming radicalized and exposing them to “positive influences.”
“The signs could be they’re not going to school, they’re feeling isolated, their understanding of geopolitics is not what we would say is the standard. And that’s where positive intervention could be, ‘Let’s get someone, (possibly) a political science university teacher, to maybe put things in context,’” Sgt. Renu Dash, acting director of the RCMP’s federal policing public engagement team, said Thursday in an interview.
Security experts said this week that authorities were wise to adopt one-on-one interventions as part of their counter-terrorism efforts, but they also had key questions and concerns: What criteria will be used to determine who is targeted for intervention? And will the RCMP get enough buy-in from community players, some of whom may be fearful of being labelled as “spies?”
“This is key. If you do not have buy-in from the communities, your plan is dead in the water,” said Mubin Shaikh, the former CSIS informant who helped to expose the Toronto-18 terror plot.
The government laid out its case for the need for early intervention in a report last week on the terror threat in Canada. The report stated that the government was aware of about 130 individuals with Canadian ties who were suspected of being involved in terrorist activities abroad, including about 30 in Syria.
Most “extremist travellers” generally believe that a conflict is justified on moral or religious grounds, the report said. Some may be drawn to conflict zones because of family or ethnic ties, the rhetoric of charismatic leaders, or online propaganda.
The RCMP is heading up a High Risk Travel Case Management Group with a number of government agencies to try to identify extremist travellers and disrupt their travel plans or terrorist activities, the report said.
For those who show signs of becoming involved in violent extremism but who have not yet crossed that threshold, the RCMP is developing an intervention program — set to roll out by the end of the year — designed to link those individuals with community mentors for “advice, support and counselling.”
Dash confirmed that public safety officials have been studying different intervention models, such as the Berlin-based EXIT program, which provides help to Germans trying to leave the neo-Nazi movement. A few years ago, the group created an offshoot program to support families of radicalized Muslims.
Dash declined to say what criteria the RCMP have developed to decide who merits intervention. She did say that someone who expresses extremist views is not necessarily going to be radicalized to violence. “It could be just someone who is being curious. We don’t want to stigmatize anybody. There’s no one-size-fits-all indicator,” Dash said.
Experts say various “diagnostic tools” have been developed around the world to assess where someone falls on the “spectrum of dangerousness,” but no consensus has been reached on which one is best.
In the U.K., a police-led early-intervention program called Channel saw in its early days referrals of young people simply for wearing what were deemed to be “radical” clothes, according to a 2012 report by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence. “People were not sure what to look for and so they erred on the side of caution,” a Channel coordinator was quoted as saying.
The program has since developed a “vulnerability assessment” framework consisting of 22 behaviours to look out for. They include spending time in the company of extremists, changing style or appearance to accord with the group, loss of interest in friends, and condoning violence or harm towards others.
As for who in the community will be tapped to serve as mentors, Dash said they could include parents, teachers and religious leaders.
Lorne Dawson, a sociology professor and expert on radicalization at the University of Waterloo, said choosing the right mentors will be key. Ex-radicals will make good candidates, as will youth workers who are respected in their communities.
“Sixteen, 17-year-olds don’t really listen to their parents, they’re a little suspicious of teachers, they may be suspicious of imams, they may not be suspicious of a youth worker associated with their mosque who is in the know,” he said.
One problem that could arise, however, is if potential mentors become fearful about being seen working with the authorities. “Are these kinds of people going to be willing to work with government or will they say, ‘Hey man, if I work with you, the RCMP, I lose my cred,’” Dawson said.
While police have played a lead role in the U.K.’s Channel program, police have taken a backseat role in intervention programs in other countries, such as the Netherlands and Denmark, said Lorenzo Vidino, a security expert at the Center for Security Studies in Zurich.
The RCMP, he said, may find that they sometimes have to take a “carrot and stick” approach with people they’re trying to steer away from extremism. Perhaps a religious leader takes a softer approach with a person, while the police might go knocking on their door to let them know “there are consequences to your actions.”
Police have to be careful though that they don’t end up spooking that person and driving them underground, said Jez Littlewood, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University.
Hussein Hamdani, a Hamilton lawyer and Muslim community activist, said he is encouraged that the RCMP is signalling that it’s not just interested in getting convictions in its fight against terrorism.
Too often in the past, he added, mosques have been inclined to kick out someone for developing radical views. The intervention model encourages community members to engage that person, provide them with a better grounding in their faith, he said.
But experts caution that not all radicals are driven by theology; some could be driven by feelings of alienation or unemployment. So while some may benefit from exposure to other religious texts or interpretations, others could benefit from talks with social workers or youth outreach workers.
“Part of the challenge is finding the correct mix for each case,” Littlewood said.
Dquan(at)Postmedia.com
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