Muslim youth say extremism is on the rise and that "brainwashing" is taking place in Toronto, according to a two-year international study on homegrown terrorism that will be released Wednesday.
Researchers with a UK-based think-tank studied the differences between violent and non-violent Islamic radicals across Europe and Canada — including the so-called Toronto 18 terror cell — and conducted focus groups in Toronto and Montreal with about 70 Muslim youth last year.
One focus group in Toronto made up of young men between the ages of 18 and 30, "was unanimous that brainwashing was taking place," says the 250-page report, titled The Edge of Violence.
Pamphlets containing extremist views were being handed out in downtown public spaces, such as outside Toronto Eaton Centre, they said.
But while the literature promoted an extreme interpretation of Islam, there wasn't an overtly violent element to it, said Jonathan Birdwell, one of the authors of the report by Demos, a think-tank focused on power and politics.
"I recall young people talking about brainwashing and I thought it was interesting that they put it in those terms," said Birdwell, who was in town last weekend with co-author Jamie Bartlett to present their findings to members of the Muslim community.
In Toronto, researchers noted that Muslim youth were divided over the prevalence and threat of radicalization, but that various community experts saw radicalization as pervasive and dangerous.
Muhammad Robert Heft, who until recently ran P4ESupport, a centre for troubled Muslim youth that included a deradicalization program, wasn't surprised by the findings.
Radicals typically brainwash youth into accepting extremist views as the pure teachings of the Quran and Hadith. The youth then build on those beliefs and undergo a process of "self-radicalization," often concluding that the answer to the world's problems is violent jihad, Heft told the Star.
Isa Munro, who participated in one of the focus groups for the new report, said when he converted to Islam nearly three years ago he felt like he was being brainwashed. But he thought it was for his own good.
"Nobody ever brainwashed me to be violent. I felt like I was being brainwashed to benefit myself," Munro, 30, told the Star. People were giving him "proper advice" on being a good Muslim, he added.
Around the same time, Munro also starting having "extreme views," thinking he wanted to study Islam overseas and participate in jihad. But he says those thoughts dissipated after attending Heft's centre, which closed in April because it lacked funding.
"Now, I'm trying to be a good citizen... I just don't have it within me to do those things."
A shorter version of the report was released in March, when the case of the Toronto 18 was still before the courts. With the trials now over, publication bans have been lifted and the researchers are releasing a new, more complete version.
The researchers, which include McGill University PhD student Michael King, also traveled to Ottawa this week to meet with government officials. They argued that the al-Qaeda brand must be stripped of its glamour and mystique by emphasizing the incompetent and theologically incompatible side of al-Qaeda inspired terrorists.
