Edmonton police say three Canadian men who have reportedly died overseas fighting for the Islamic State were known to law enforcement agencies.
In a press conference Thursday, Deputy Chief Brian Simpson responded to a report that three Somali-Canadian men in their 20s had died in Syria fighting with the militant group.
Simpson said Edmonton police did not have any contact with the young men, but said that at some point, the men had been flagged as high-risk travellers through joint work with the RCMP.
“We did have knowledge that those individuals were overseas,” Simpson told reporters.
He could not confirm reports that they had had been killed.
“In the areas that are involved, to get information is hard,” Simpson said. “To get that information confirmed is even harder.”
Simpson did say that it’s difficult to track Canadians overseas. He also said that over the past 18 months, the number of investigations into reports of potential radicals has increased significantly.
More resources and funding would be required to keep tabs on all potential Islamic State fighters, Simpson said.
“A lot of the times, we’re hearing about this stuff after the fact,” Simpson said. “People come forward with their concerns because they realized what happened.”
Simpson also said that hundreds of frontline officers in Edmonton are currently receiving specialized training to recognize indicators of extremism, but that the community also has a role to play.
“Individuals in the community will be the first line in terms of seeing changes in behaviour, radical ideology being spoken, actions being taken,” Simpson said.
Members of the Somali-Canadian community denounced such violence as un-Islamic and said they need to intervene with youth who are in danger of becoming radicalized.
Other community members, however, say it’s far too difficult to get information on would-be Islamic State fighters from police before it’s too late.
“The vast majority of these people are radicalized online, which is a very, very difficult thing for law enforcement to track, let alone a community like ours that doesn’t have the resources that mainstream law enforcement organizations have,” said Ahmed Hussen, president of the Canadian Somali Congress, said in an interview with CTV News.
RCMP would not say anything about investigations into extremists in Edmonton.
Ottawa shooter
Speaking with reporters, Simpson also denied the notion that communities like Fort McMurray, Alta. may be hotbeds for extremists looking to make a quick buck to fund terrorist activities.
RCMP have previously said that Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the gunman who killed a soldier in Ottawa before storming Parliament, had been employed in the oilfields of Alberta and had access to a “considerable amount of funds” leading up to the attack.
“(Edmonton Police) is not saying that Fort McMurray is a hotbed for extremism, or any other Alberta community for that matter,” Simpson said. “However, the economics of Fort McMurray make it easier for these types of activities to be funded easily and quickly, as was the case with the Ottawa shooter.”
With files from CTV Calgary and CTV Edmonton
