Montreal creating program to fight against radicalization

Police have acknowledged opening about 100 files related to terrorism since fall

MONTREAL— Montreal is creating a program to identify and head off aspiring terrorists and other extremists after the disappearance of six young people who left Quebec to live under the rule of the Islamic State group.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said he wants to ensure that police, schools and front-line community groups are working together to single out those at risk of radicalization before they commit a crime, endanger public safety or flee the country to join the ranks of the terrorist group, also known as ISIL, that has taken over swaths of Syria and Iraq.

“The goal in all of this is to prevent violence,” Coderre said.

The program, which is to be up and running in the coming weeks, is also meant as a resource for struggling family and friends of radicalized individuals who will be able to call a telephone hotline for assistance and advice on cases that could range from people lured into street gangs, neo-Nazi groups or Islamic terrorism.

The hotline is being fielded by the city’s police force. RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said on the weekend the national police force is seeing “a steady increase” in the number of radicalization cases in Montreal, as well as in Alberta and Ontario.

He did not provide any figures, but last fall said there were about 90 Canadians the Mounties had classed as “high risk” of trying to join the ranks of the Islamic State.

Speaking before a Senate committee Monday, CSIS director Michel Coulombe said the numbers are “growing incrementally but are not in the thousands today.”

“The goal in all of this is to prevent violence.” DENIS CODERRE MONTREAL MAYOR

Montreal was recently rattled by news that six young adults, including two women, had secretly fled the country on a flight bound for Turkey and had stated their intention to cross the border into Syria and join the Islamic State.

Montreal police have acknowledged opening about 100 terrorism files since last fall, and police Chief Marc Parent said Monday that he has been forced to reassign investigators to probe potential suspects and security risks.

But he refused to reveal just how much of an increase his force is dealing with because the number is “fluctuating” all the time, he said. With files from Tonda MacCharles in Ottawa

Friends say Martin Couture-Rouleau, left, had become radicalized before killing Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent last October. Shayma Senouci, right, is believed to have fled the country in order to join the Islamic State.