Teen terrorists: Does Canada have a youth radicalization problem?
terrorism in two days. On Wednesday, RCMP arrested a 16-year-old in Calgary over an unrelated plot.The RCMP said Saturday it had arrested five youths for terrorism just in the past six months, and that it had seen a “concerning trend” of terrorists using the internet to recruit youths.As a result, police said parents, as well as teachers and coaches, should be on the alert for the signs of radicalization.“We’re asking adults in positions of authority to be alert for behaviors of concern which may be linked to violent extremism,” the RCMP said in a statement.The Ottawa youth’s father told Global News his son had become “more religious.” “I warned him many times,” to stay away from “extremist people,” he said, and even arranged for his son to speak to an imam.But he said his son was naive and may have been used by extremists.“There are some people taking advantage of him,” the father said.
“They are bad. They are not religious.
They use religion. They use religion to achieve their goals, you know, their personal goals, private goals.”Terrorist groups have long targeted youths, who can be more vulnerable to extremist propaganda, but the Internet has become a powerful recruitment tool.In 2022, a 16-year-old Kingston, Ont.
youth originally from Syria was sentenced to three years for plotting a pro-ISIS bomb attack. He had communicated with ISIS online.Last month, a teen who subscribed to misogynist incel culture was convicted of attacking a Toronto massage parlour and killing a woman.
He was 17 at the time.Meanwhile, the U.S. has accused a 16-year-old ISIS supporter in Canada of taking part in a plot to conduct a mass shooting at a Shia mosque in Chicago.The RCMP said parents should try to recognize the “signs of
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