RadicalizationCanada delays national counter-terrorism program, so provinces launch own initiatives

Canada’s national anti-terrorism program, which aims to identify signs of radicalization in young people and then connect them with social services, has been long-delayed, leading some communities to institute programs of their own with outside assistance.

As the Calgary Herald reports, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) first introduced the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program in 2013, and was originally meant but debut last autumn, but has announced on Tuesday that it expects the rollout to take place in 2015. The federal government has also recently outlined the funding plans for the CVE. Using a $1.1 million budget, eight employees will work full-time following training last October of 30 officers within the United Kingdom.

In the course of that delay, however, cities across Canada — including Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Hamilton — have launched their own programs in frustration and a need for greater efficiency.

In Calgary, a team of case workers founded the Canadian chapter of the German outreach group Hayat in September. Hayat, named after the Arabic word for “life,” is a spinoff organization of Exit, a group which has helped many Germans leave neo-Nazi hate groups.

In Winnipeg, the Islamic Social Services Association (ISSA) is working on preventing young Canadian Muslims from even reaching the stage where they would need intervention to prevent them from joining a Islamic State (ISIL) terrorist group.

“Every time we hear of someone who hasn’t gone abroad, or who’s still alive, there’s hope,” said Christianne Boudreau, of Hayat in Calgary. Hayat and ISSA split the costs of flying over trainers from Exit in order to fast-track their services to at-risk youth.

“We need a national system,” said Shahina Siddiqui of ISSA. “Some of the youth will travel, if they notice (an intervention). They will move to another province, if we do not have that linkage … we may run into difficulties later on.”

Hayat and ISSA are just some of the groups of the front lines as many Canadians await the national program. In Toronto, Paradise Forever has operated since 2004, and founder Muhammad Heft claims to have helped roughly 100 people who grappled with radicalized beliefs but did not present a threat of violence.

Elsewhere, in Hamilton, local lawyer Hussein Hamdani has used his time to help many Muslims who might have otherwise joined terror groups to find solace in volunteering and community service.

While these groups have operated in the absence of assistance or a formal effort from the RCMP, they have announced that the CVE program will ultimately aim to work with these local groups and establish partnerships to better combat extremism.

“The RCMP’s made incredible inroads in the last seven years. Why? They took a chance,” said Heft, regarding the efforts of the police to reach out to community groups and mosques.

Many are hoping that those efforts will be even further strengthened at the time of the rollout later this year.