Police arrested a group of 10 young people earlier this month. Investigators suspect they were about to flee Canada to join extremist fighters overseas.

Police arrested a group of 10 young people earlier this month. Investigators suspect they were about to flee Canada to join extremist fighters overseas.
Photo Credit: Radio-Canada

Radicalization Prevention Centre opening in Montreal

A radicalization prevention centre is set to open some time next month in Montreal according to Jocelyn Belanger, a professor in the pyschology department at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal.  Belanger is part of the centre’s implementation committee.

“A quest for significance”

Professor Belanger says had the centre been open, it might have helped the 10 young people recently arrested for allegedly wanting to join extremists working Turkey and Syria. Belanger says the centre could have been a powerful resource for the families; instead of calling the police on their children, they would have had this intermediary step,

The centre would be a mid-point, a resource for families dealing with radicalization.  Belanger says these young people are “motivated by a quest for meaning.”

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The prevention centre will deal with all manner of radical lifestyles, whether it’s environmentally motivated, or a  nationalistic movement, any movement that espouses violence as a means of success will be treated.

Belanger says the prevention centre will have a triple mandate; the first is prevention, by education; going into schools and talking about what might be on offer from radicals, all in an effort to innoculate young people against falling for the lure or the arguments the extremists present. Alternatives will presented, such as working to raise money for children in Syria instead of going to risk one’s life there.  And the centre will endeavour to demystify what goes on abroad, and how a radical response can change one’s life.

The centre will look to anti-radicalization programs in Germany, working with right-wing extremists or in Sri Lanka working with Tamil Tiger extremists, Belanger says, he and his colleagues witnessed the success of vocational training. He says terrorism is full-time work. In teaching these former Tigers to become farmers or electricians for example, they helped change the focus and the  passion.  Belanger says, of 10,000 Tamil tigers, relased for almost  three years now, the recidivism rate is almost zero.

Belanger says some people might say, “Let them go” but he says this is a very dangerous approach, as they can return fully trained and wreak havoc.

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