It’s a scary thought that had it not been for an FBI tip, Aaron Driver, a Canadian convert to Islam, could have pulled off a major terrorist attack at a public venue in London, Ontario, or even Toronto.
This, despite the fact Driver was under the noses of Canada’s security and spy agencies. Fortunately, the ISIS-inspired lone wolf was shot dead before he could do any damage.
The incident should have sent alarm bells ringing, but with the Conservatives and NDP orphaned without permanent leaders, the Trudeau government succeeded in portraying this near disaster as a success story.
By contrast, the Winnipeg lawyer who represented Driver had some scathing criticism of the RCMP.
Leonard Tailleur told the London Free Press: “How in the world this could happen under the nose of the RCMP is beyond me. I am actually scandalized because they (RCMP) fought so hard to get this peace bond. They got it and what do they do? They just cut him and jettison him? That’s preposterous.”
The proposal to ‘reach out’ to those who are ‘vulnerable to radicalization’ is ridiculous.
Now comes Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale with the ridiculous proposal to “reach out” to those who are “vulnerable to radicalization.”
As if Islamic radicalization is some sort of Zika virus and potential jihadis are wilderness campers who can be stung by infected mosquitoes, unbeknownst to them.
Goodale said his government will create a new national office for community outreach and engagement that will help combat radicalization.
My fear is the same Islamists who currently work with our police forces on deradicalization will be influential in establishing this new program.
Munir Pervaiz, chair of the secular Muslim Canadian Congress, attended a few of these “outreach” programs, but says he stopped going because the entire effort was taken over by Islamic clerics lecturing police about so-called Islamophobia.
Elsewhere, the model presented as the gold standard of deradicalization is the “Counter Violent Extremism” program in the Danish city of Aarhus, from where more than 30 Muslims have left for Syria to join ISIS.
Last Saturday, the Toronto Star had a front-page feature from Aarhus, extolling the virtues and successes of the city’s Islamic deradicalization program.
I called my friend, Naser Khader, a Danish member of parliament from Aarhus, to get his reaction to the supposed success of this program. He laughed over what he described as “bulls--t.”
Danish MP Naser Khader: Young people who have gone to Syria to enrol with jihadists, then regret and return ... should go to prison, but instead we give them counselling, empathy and maybe a hug.” |
A Danish immigrant born to Palestinian parents in Syria, Khader said: “The so-called Aarhus-model is not working. Truth is, it is not much more than wishful thinking, in my opinion. I don’t believe in it. Young people who have gone to Syria to enrol with (ISIS) jihadists, then regret and return. They should go to prison, but instead we give them counselling, empathy and maybe a hug.”
The one question no one dares ask any of the converts to Islam who head off to jihad is: Who converted you?
The answer will lead us to the real source of the problem — clerics who convert non-Muslims to Islam with the intent of turning them into jihadists.
The Canadian Press report Monday on the ubiquitous presence of hate literature promoting Islamic extremism in Canada’s mosques and Islamic schools provides an answer Goodale’s office will never come up with.
Will it denounce jihad and renounce sharia?
Goodale would be better off not blocking those of us who can offer him some serious advice. But I guess he can always rely on the FBI. Yes, Minister?
Tarek Fatah, a founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress and columnist at the Toronto Sun, is a Robert J. and Abby B. Levine Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
