RadicalizationCanadian Senate panel: Imams should be vetted, certified to stamp out “extreme ideas”

A Canadian Senate committee said Canada must go much further in cracking down on radicalism and terrorism, including a process to certify, or verify, the credentials of Muslim imams as a means of stamping out “extreme ideas.”

The recommendation from the Senate Committee on National Security and Defense was adopted by the committee’s Conservative majority, but Liberal senators opposed it.

The Globe and Mail reports that intervening in the training of imams is surprising coming from the Tories, who typically advocate a clear separation of church and state in Canada.

Muslim leaders criticized the idea.

“We’re deeply concerned about the suggestion that imams require special vetting as opposed to any other faith leaders,” Ihsaan Gardee, executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims said. “This recommendation bears the hallmarks of racial and religious discrimination and in our view would be contrary to the Charter and human rights code.”

He said many Canadian Muslim scholars and imams are already encountering and addressing “false narratives” employed by radicals. “They [scholars and imams] are the ones best equipped and situated to unpack, demystify and debunk the sort of cut-and-paste approach to religion that is employed by violent extremists.”

The committee issued an interim report Wednesday on its study of the Terrorist Threat in Canada, which that addresses matters including terrorist recruitment, operations, and financing.

Other recommendations include calling on the federal government to outlaw membership in a terrorist group and creating a no-visit list of “ideological radicals” who would not be allowed to enter Canada, and considering prohibition of the “glorification of terrorists” as a way of diminishing the risk of violent extremism.

The committee’s twenty-five recommendations follow closely on the heels of a controversial new anti-terror law, C-51, which calls for a more pervasive, and potentially more intrusive, fight against extremism and radicalization in Canada.

Recommendation No. 9 calls on the federal government to “work with the provinces and the Muslim communities to investigate the options that are available for the training and certification of imams in Canada.”

The Globe and Mail notes that the Conservative-dominated Senate committee explains it is worried about the influence of jihadists on Canadian Muslims.

“The committee heard testimony from members of the Muslim community and others that some foreign-trained imams have been spreading extremist religious ideology and messages that are not in keeping with Canadian values,” the committee’s interim report said.

“These extreme ideas are said to be contributing to radicalization and raise serious concerns if they continue to go unchecked.”

— Read more in Countering the Terrorist Threat in Canada: An Interim Report (Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defense, 2015)