Letter to the Editor, Ottawa Citizen: Re: We need security probe after DND invited imam, Oct. 6.

October 8, 2010

In his letter about the cancellation of Zijad Delic’s speech at the National Defence Headquarters, David B. Harris referenced the RCMP’s Community Outreach initiative, stating that the invitation is “typical of dangerously-addled government and RCMP outreach.” In the past, Mr. Harris has also criticized our national security community outreach efforts through opinion columns in your newspaper. 

The RCMP has been leading efforts in the prevention of radicalization-to-violence by engaging communities that are more vulnerable to violent radicalization to have them resist extremist ideology. We accomplish that by reaching out to individuals and groups that are representative of their communities.

We work with all communities from different faiths, ethnicities and backgrounds, and not just the Muslim community. We have initiatives in many locations across the country such as the Junior Police Academy, a day-long event in which members of the British Columbia community outreach section along with support from detachments go into elementary schools to demonstrate various police activities. 

Another good example of community outreach is our community consultative committees such as the one in the national capital region, which consists of a diverse group that uses dialogue to advance and promote positive relations between the RCMP and the diverse Communities, while also assisting and educating RCMP members to understand the customs, religious practices and cultural diversity of various Communities. The RCMP also leads other initiatives such as information sessions for new immigrants in various cities across the country to introduce them to the roles and responsibilities of agencies such as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the RCMP, Justice Canada and Canada Border Services Agency.

The approach of community outreach has shown to be very successful. Today, many of our courses and initiatives have been developed in partnership with leaders from these communities. Outreach efforts have been further supported by Justice Dennis O’Connor in his recommendations to further engage Muslim and Arab communities in Canada. We also perform outreach with other stakeholders of national security such as the private sector and critical infrastructure industries that are vulnerable to terrorism.

The RCMP’s community outreach aims to help communities resist attempts to radicalize their young people and builds community resilience to messages and activities that promote hatred and criminality towards others.

I invite Mr. Harris to contact us if he wishes to know more about national security community outreach and how it is a vital part of our overall counter-terrorism strategy.

Gilles Michaud, Ottawa
Assistant Commissioner
National Security Criminal Investigations, RCMP