Canadian Youth Radicalization in Islamist Jihad

"These are not random developments -- they reflect a cultural shift in a post-October 7 world where extremism is reframed as 'justice' and terrorism is rebranded as 'resistance'."

Today, Islamist radicalization is manifestly unfolding in classrooms, mosques and community centres, often cloaked in the language of progressive activism and shielded by Canada's own freedoms."

"Islamist networks have learned to exploit the country's Charter of Rights and Freedoms to spread radical narratives while avoiding scrutiny. It's a strategy reminiscent of the Muslim Brotherhood's long-term 'civilizational jihad' strategy -- the gradual infiltration and sabotage of western institutions to normalize extremist ideology under the guise of rights and advocacy."

Joe Adam George, national security analyst Macdonald-Laurier Institute/Canada research lead for Islamist threats at the Middle East Forum 

The demonstration outside the Israeli Consulate in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks became the first of many in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza over the next two years. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

 

The Ahlul-Bayt Mosque in Windsor, Ontario held a memorial last month, marking the first anniversary of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's death. The mosque and its affiliate Islamic school the year before had celebrated the life of an operative whose organization is among groups listed as terrorist entities under Canadian law. What is happening in this central portion of Ontario occurs throughout the country, from East to West, in Canada. The steady infiltration has succeeded in establishing the religious authority of imams from the Middle East, many of whom received their theological standing as graduates of the Al Azhar University in Cairo.  

 

The Windsor mosque is known to have hosted events featuring the late Yahya Sinwar, the top echelon leader of Hamas in Gaza, responsible for the atrocities of 7 October, along with former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khomeini, as well as other Hezbollah 'martyrs'. Dead they may be, but their martyrdom serves as a symbol of Islamist conquest in the making, assuring those who glorify these terrorists that their deaths were not in vain, merely a down-payment on Islam's grand plan to Islamicize the world, by all means possible from persuasion to coercion, threats to mass slaughter in the grand scheme of  divine destiny.

 

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at an encampment at McGill University in Montreal, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

 

The mosque gatherings appeal to the depth of faith of Muslim youth where video images highlight a new day on the horizon where the new generation of Canadian Muslims may henceforth speak boldly of their admiration for one such as Nasrallah or Sinwar, preparing the path for young Canadian Muslims to take on their way to transforming a Western, democratic nation of Judeo-Christian traditions to one where Sharia becomes law and the values of the Muslim Brotherhood, outlawed in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates gain ground in Canada.

 

Unions, activist communities, social networks, academics, school trustees and city councils throughout the country have their share of bigoted members subscribing to the siren call of Jew-hate and the attractiveness of support for the Palestinian claims of victimhood, preferring to view Palestinian terror groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine as 'freedom fighters', exercising their human rights options to confront and battle the Israeli oppressors who 'dominate' Palestinians and 'steal their land'.

 

ISIS-motivated activities among young Muslims involved in terrorism-related charges reached a 488 percent increase, as reported by the RCMP, between April 2023 and March of 2024 in radicalizing youth. Former terrorism expert and FBI agent Lara Burns noted that Hamas has put in two decades of infiltration in North American campuses and media, successfully creating an atmosphere of sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians against a powerful state whose purpose is to extinguish all opportunities for the 'rightful possessorsv of the territories to form a state of their own.

 

The Palestine Youth Movement held a downtown rally from Yonge and Dundas Sts. to the Israeli Consulate on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, before shutting down the intersection to traffic. Photo by Caryma Sa'd /Special to the Toronto Sun

 

These simmering tensions and grievances giving impetus to Palestinian-led student groups claiming that Israel is conducting a 'genocide' against Palestinians have been taken up wholeheartedly by others whose underlying antisemitism spurs them to unquestioningly repeat the  slanders and join mass protests vilifying Israel and the Israel Defense Forces, while capturing Jewish Canadians in their wide net of contempt, with threatening violent actions to match. Leading to criminal activities where synagogues, Jewish schools and community centres as well as Jewish-owned businesses are vandalized, torched, bombed, shot at.

 

The ongoing marches through the streets of Canadian cities, targeting Jewish Canadians take advantage of the country's commitment to free speech. Canada does have anti-hate laws, but despite the fact that hatred and threats are spouted against an 'identifiable group' with chants of 'final solution' and 'Jews go back to Poland', along with 'globalize the Intifada', and 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free', government leaders at all levels, while paying lip service decrying antisemitism, fail to respond to put a stop to the harassment and threats taking place right where people live and are most vulnerable.

 

The radicalization is there, out in the open. The right to own the streets, close off road access, assail people as they attempt to enter their houses of worship, threaten students at universities, engage in mass prayer sessions at closed-off intersections is validated in the opinion of those wreaking havoc, simply for the fact that the police instead of intervening to uphold laws, cater to the ravening crowds. Canada is in a position now where even elementary school administrations and their school boards, normalize Palestinian exceptionalism, making it an offense to criticize Muslims, much less question the destabilizing turmoil they cause.

 

Men pray at the Hamilton Mountain Mosque in Hamilton, Ont. Mosques have become frequent targets of surveillance by CSIS. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

 

"The RCMP and CSIS have collaborated with other Five-Eyes law enforcement and security agencies to develop this message, which calls for a whole-of-society response to help identify and deal with the radicalisation of minors – especially online – across the Five-Eyes nations."

"We are increasingly concerned about the radicalisation of minors, and minors who support, plan or undertake terrorist activities. Radicalised minors can pose the same credible terrorist threat as adults, and law enforcement and security agencies cannot address this issue alone. Minors undertaking violent extremist activities, even if not carrying out an attack, can have lifelong consequences."

"Governments and providers of health and other support services are already working to address this issue. We are committed to working with government agencies, the education sector, mental health and social wellbeing services, communities and technology companies as part of a collective effort to identify and counter radicalisation of minors to violent extremism. It is important to work together early as once law enforcement and security agencies become involved, it is often too late."

RCMP