Gazette - Radicalization and the RCMP Community Outreach Program

EMERGING TRENDS

By Insp Wayne Hanniman and Angus Smith
National Security Criminal Investigations

A number of recent domestic and international cases, including Project O-SAGE (an RCMP-led counterterrorism investigation that resulted in the arrest of 17 suspects in 2006), the London Bombings of July 7, 2005, and the 2004 killing of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, have demonstrated that the extremist threat is not always an external one.

There are native born citizens — of Canada, the United States, Britain, the Netherlands and a host of other countries — who are influenced by the siren call of radicalism and violent extremism and who are prepared to engage in direct action.

High-risk groups in this regard may include the children of immigrants who find themselves trapped between the traditional world of their parents and the often confusing and contradictory stimuli of modern western society.

Agents of radicalization can be religious figures or political ideologues who take advantage of anger and dismay over world events, foreign policy and the perceived plight of co-religionists or cultural groups in other parts of the world. Many individuals effectively “self-radicalize,” whether alone or in small groups.

While popular opinion often equates radicalization with Muslim communities, there is no single religious or cultural group that is more prone — or more vulnerable — to radicalization than any other. Converts to Islam do not present any particular risk in this regard. The vast majority of such individuals (like the vast majority of Muslims) have no interest in either supporting or carrying out terrorist acts.

Violent groups of all kinds employ similar strategies and target similar demographics — particularly vulnerable and impressionable young people — and have done so throughout history. Over the past 50 years, police and security agencies have dealt with a wide variety of groups and individuals that have been radicalized to the point of extremist action. In Canada, these have included the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) and the Squamish Five; in the United States, the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers; and in Europe, the Baader Meinhof Group, the Red Brigades and Action Directe.

Community outreach

The RCMP has developed a centrally co-ordinated National Security Community Outreach Program as one of its key responses to the radicalization threat. Deeply rooted in the RCMP ethos of bias-free and community policing and its Terrorism and Youth strategic priorities, community outreach is a critical component of the RCMP’s overall National Security Program.

Since 2005, the Community Outreach Program has included a discrete Youth Outreach Program, intended to address the issue of youth political violence and radicalization by including young adults in the continuing dialogue on national security and policing matters.

The Community Outreach Program is a direct response to the concerns minority communities raised during a variety of public hearings, particularly the O’Connor Commission of Inquiry and the Anti-terrorism Act Review. These concerns included perceptions of being marginalized or branded as terrorists because of race or ethnicity, and fears of being victimized by any anti-minority backlash that might follow a major terrorist incident.

The Community Outreach program is intended to engage all of Canada’s diverse ethnic, cultural and religious communities in the protection of Canada’s national security, through understanding of mutual goals and concerns and appropriate and informed communications in times of crisis.

In order to open channels of communication between the RCMP and specific communities, the Community Outreach Program sponsors ongoing community meetings across the country. The meetings move beyond the “three Cs” of coffee, cookies and compliments, focusing instead on explaining the duties of the RCMP and its national security law enforcement responsibilities, as well as engaging participants in a frank discussion of community concerns.

In times of particular crisis — as in the aftermath of the O-SAGE arrests in 2006 — Community Outreach and Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) members meet with community representatives to apprise them of developments and to respond to any questions or concerns around the investigation and its potential impacts.

The tremendous diversity of the RCMP constituency requires real flexibility in any program aimed at communities and groups within those communities. The Outreach Program has evolved to suit specific regional needs. In Toronto, INSET investigators have designed and delivered a series of highly successful “Citizen’s Academies” — short courses introducing the public to basic police procedure and enabling legislation. The INSET in Vancouver has also developed a “Youth Academy.”

The RCMP Community Outreach Program is another example of how the RCMP works with individuals and communities to help ensure that high-risk groups and individuals find their place in Canadian society, without compromising their cultural and religious values.