Many factors can contribute to youth radicalization: Quebec report

MONTREAL – A new report finds there is no one reason why Canadian youth become radicalized to the point of wanting to join jihadist groups overseas.

It lists a number of factors, including personal vulnerability, a search for belonging and manipulation by people on the outside.

Montreal’s anti-radicalization centre launched the study after several students from one of the city’s junior colleges left for Syria in early 2015, allegedly to join a terrorist group.

The report says recruiters took advantage of the social climate at the time, including debates on reasonable accommodation and Quebec’s proposed charter of values, to make youth feel alienated from society.

The study includes a number of recommendations, including a strong role for schools in preventing radicalization.

It estimates that 130 to 250 Canadians, including 20 to 30 Quebecers, have gone to Syria since 2013.