Since early 2014, Public Safety ministry staff have been talking to Canadian youth about terrorism.
“This is not an easy thing to talk about. Communities are very uncomfortable — and rightfully so,” says Phil Gurski.
After 29 years at both of Canada’s spy agencies — Communications Security Establishment (CSE) and Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) — Gurski spent two years with the Public Safety ministry helping run these sessions, before he retired in April.
Public servants have hosted these town halls in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta. They mainly speak with Muslims aged 15 to 30, in groups of 100 or less.
The staff detail cases of people who have been radicalized. The goal is to have young people spot signs of radicalization, and know whom to contact if they’re concerned.
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“You can’t put your head in the sand and say this isn’t happening,” Gurksi says. “The challenge is … What do we do about it? How do we address it?”
According to documents released to Postmedia through freedom-of-information laws, the examples used are real-life cases such as Calgary’s Damian Clairmont, who left for Syria in 2012. He was later killed fighting for the Islamic State group.
As of April, 500 young people have attended these sessions.
In surveys, participants said they felt more likely to recognize people at risk of radicalization.
Gurski says one of the most important things about working with Muslim communities is avoiding the word “jihad.”
“Rather than using terminology that’s bound to offend — and we’re probably going to get wrong anyway — why don’t we use terminology that we can all agree on?”
Gurski says his former colleagues prefer terms like “al-Qaida-inspired radicalization” and “violent extremism.” He says government employees are motivated by logistics, not political correctness.
“You’re not mislabelling it; they’re calling it for what it is. You’re simply using terminology that’s not going to get you behind the 8-ball after the first few sentences when you get there.”
