So we continue to wring our hands over the fate of our citizens who fought with Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups, primarily in Syria and Iraq but in other conflict zones as well. On the one hand is the crowd that says “let them rot in some Syrian hellhole for what they did: […]
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Imagine the following scenario. There is a person who comes from a good home, not necessarily privileged perhaps, but who ‘has it good’. Despite this advantage in life – let’s face it, many people don’t have it so good – this person becomes bored. In their boredom, this person hooks up with a gang that […]
This piece appeared in The Hill Times on December 21, 2017 http://www.hilltimes.com/2017/12/20/australia-belgium-lead-example-returning-foreign-fighters-canada/129572 Canadians are nice people, or so we think of ourselves that way. There is not much doubt that many see Canadians as ‘nice’ and even harmless: I recently read a Doonesbury comic in which one of the characters comments that there are few things […]
I must confess that I despair at times about the average person’s knowledge about and reaction to terrorism. On occasions some people panic and build the threat out of all proportion, cancelling their travel plans, calling for bans on immigration and ranting about the presence of ‘undesirables’ (i.e. Muslims) in our societies whom they view […]
Imagine the following scenario if you will. You are an HR officer for a company or in a government department and you are going through a stack of applications for an open position. One candidate strikes you as very qualified so you arrange for an interview. In the course of your talk with the aspiring […]
The RCMP announced yesterday that they have arrested Pamir Hakimzadah and charged him with leaving Canada to join Islamic State, meaning that he is charged with terrorism. This is a big deal. It represents, to my knowledge, the first returning foreign fighter to be charged under the provisions of section 83.01 of the Canadian Criminal […]
What should we do with returning “foreign fighters”? A number of recent terrorist attacks were committed by young men and women who had radicalized, went to train with IS in the Middle East, then returned to their home country to commit acts of violence. In this text, Phil Gurski examines why some people decide to […]
In many instances historically amnesties were offered to former combatants in the interests of getting the violence to stop and giving a society a chance to rebuild itself. A really good example where amnesty seemed to work would be in South Africa where it was part of that nation’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission after Apartheid […]
As we still reel from the foiled terrorist attack last week in Strathroy, Ontario, we can still rest assured that attacks, successful or not, remain a rarity in Canada. In the period since 9/11 we have had no more than 8 such incidents: on average one every two years. When we compare our experiences […]
When we write and talk about foreign fighters we are normally referring to the phenomenon of outsiders who travel to engage in combat in a land that is not theirs. More specifically, at least these days, we are focused on those joining up with terrorist groups like Islamic State and Jabhat al Nusra which are […]