When RCMP Supt. Jean-Guy Isaya first started as a police officer 20 years ago, school outreach included drug safety programs.
Now Mountie says there is a growing need to talk children About violent extremism.
“We believe that youth and minors pose the same threat as adults,” said Isaiah, who works in the RCMP's national security team.
“This trend is definitely continuing and it doesn't seem like it's going to go away.”
That's why the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, along with five other intelligence and law enforcement agencies, Submit a report early this month Warning of growing prominence of young people attracted to violent ideologies.
The Five Eyes coalition, which includes Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, warns that minors are particularly vulnerable to online radicalization. Extremist recruiters can turn innocent social media and gaming platforms such as Discord, Instagram, Roblox and TikTok into breeding grounds for hate.
Isaiah said that 12-year-olds are attracted to A “Buffet of Ideology” iIncluding religious fundamentalism and white supremacy.
The The alliance said it was kept out The Report on hope Youth can be displaced before the threat becomes so serious that law enforcement and security agencies need to act. The report is meant as an SOS for governments, social services, healthcare workers and educators.
Even before, the police had to intervene.
A year ago, RCMP have charged a 15-year-old Ottawa boy with alleged conspiracy Terrorist attacks against the Jewish people. Another youth has been charged as a co-conspirator in the case.
in august, Mounties have charged a youth from the Greater Toronto Area with alleged ties to a terrorist group. The police did not give details of what the accused was trying to do.
Mental health workers saw 'alarming' increase
David O'Brien, director of mental health at Yorktown Family Services, is working to stop it Titles Like that
He said his clinic is dealing with a “significant” and “alarming” increase in the number of tweens, teenagers and young adults who hold hateful thoughts — some even planning attacks.
“Especially coming out of the pandemic, where many children and young people spend most of their time online,” he said. “I think so We are seeing the results of that.”
From 2020, Midtown Toronto Clinicwho Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) program – A service dedicated to handling optics in radicaln
O'Brien stressed that young people's grievances were fluid, but said neo-Nazi, anti-Muslim and anti-democratic sympathies were common among young people at the event.
The team also discovered some underlying commonalities: depression, anxiety, PTSD and, for many of their male clients, vulnerability to intimate partner violence.
While some self-radicalize, O'Brien said others are sought out by recruiters.
He said those recruiters set up online spaces that give children “A false sense of a safe space to talk about global issues, world problems, their mental health issues.”
“People are vulnerable and they've been weaponized,” O'Brien said.
He said the clinic's strategy is relatively simple: build relationships and address why young people are radicalized.
“We've pushed them away and arrested them, or suspended them from school, expelled them. So we've excluded them, when really they need inclusion,” he said.
His team gives young people the recognition and support they want – without attaching a violent ideology. And it is proving successful.
Among its 250 customers to dateAbout 30 percent Arrived at ETA Because they planned an eventack
O'Brien said only one person was arrested after entering the program.
“This is a huge and surprising statistic,” he said.
Mountie says the police alone cannot solve the problem
The Five Eyes report called for a “whole-of-society response” to tackle youth radicalisation.
Isaiah said that while the police and intelligence agencies are playing a role to combat this, there is a growing need for parents.s Parents, teachers, schools, social services and mental health professionals to help intervene.
By the time a case comes to the attention of law enforcement or intelligence agencies, he said, “it's often too late for young people to turn back the clock.”
O'Brien said this requires mental health and health training–Care workers across the country — and steady funding from the federal government.
The ETA program is supported by Public Safety Canada's Community Resilience Fund — but its grant only lasts until the end of the year.
O'Brien said that without the renewed funding, the program would not be able to take on many high-risk cases.
“We're a part of reducing violence in Canada and helping young people get back on track and away from it,” he said.
“This trend won't go away for a long time.”
