OTTAWA — An Ottawa imam says Canadians must work harder to prevent young people from becoming radicalized.
Zijad Delic tells the Senate national security committee there is little talk of steering vulnerable people away from extremism.
Instead, the focus is on trying to deradicalize them after the fact.
Last fall, the RCMP said it had some 63 active security investigations on 90 suspected extremists who intended to join fights abroad or who had returned to Canada.
The federal government has since introduced two bills aimed at reinforcing or expanding the ability of Canadian security agencies to investigate and deter terrorist threats.
Legislation tabled last Friday would give the Canadian Security Intelligence Service powers to actively disrupt threats, not just collect information about them.
Follow @JimBronskill on Twitter