Teacher whose students may have joined ISIS speaks out

Adil Charkaoui said he is the victim of a witch hunt, responding to College de Maisonneuve’s decision to cancel his contract after six former students from the CEGEP left Canada and are believed to have joined ISIS fighters.

The four men and two women from Laval and Montreal left Canada for Turkey in mid-January and are believed to have continued on to Syria. Four of them attended the fall session in 2014 at the CEGEP.

Charkaoui, leader of the group Ecole des Compagnons, said he is disgusted by the discriminatory attitude towards Muslims. At a press conference Friday morning, he said he’s not responsible for radicalizing the young students.

Two schools suspended Charkaoui’s classes since media reported on the missing students. College Rosemont and College de Maisonneuve said the school’s values are not in line with what Charkaoui was teaching.

However Charkaoui disagrees and stated his group only taught Arabic, basic religion with the Koran, and some sports. He added that his school encourages students to embrace Quebec and helps to de-radicalize youth, who often deal with family problems and street gangs.

He explained that one of the six missing students attended his classes but came only twice.

Charkaoui said he only found out this week from a journalist that a former student was among the six.

"He came twice, somebody very shy, not talking too much," Charkaoui told reporters Friday. "We didn't evaluate him so, really, we don't know about his level in Arabic and religion."

One of the junior colleges defended the decision to suspend Charkaoui's lease, saying a video circulating online suggested the activities of the school and the college's values were at odds.

Charkaoui maintained the video used to justify the suspensions does not contain any "heinous or denigrating" comments.

"This video, I think the people who have viewed it don't understand Arab or didn't have time to translate the contents," Charkaoui said.

"What the video says is a song that demands more respect from people," adding that it's about companionship and being polite.

Charkaoui's association rented space from the colleges for weekend courses and he added there was nothing controversial about the subject matter.

"We are teaching Arabic, the Qur'an and we are giving a half-hour soccer and 20 minutes about religion," he said.

"The books we are teaching -- publicly there is a link-- it's a book about faith, Islamic faith and another book about how to pray."

He hasn't ruled out suing the colleges if the contracts are cancelled, he added.

He said it was clear that certain groups are stirring up Islamophobia and fear of Muslims to gain political points.

Charkaoui was arrested under Canada's security certificate system in 2003 as Canada's police and national security departments alleged he was a terrorist and had trained at a militant camp in Afghanistan.

For nine years Charkaoui's movements were monitored by the state but he was never charged.

A court lifted the restrictions on the Moroccan-born Montreal resident in 2009 and he became a Canadian citizen last year.

Charkaoui is now suing the federal government.

-With a file from The Canadian Press

Charkaoui said he plans to take legal action if the schools do not let him resume his classes.

Charkaoui was arrested in 2003 under a security certificate, which was later quashed in 2009.

He later lodged a lawsuit against the federal government for wrongful arrest and now operates the Quebec Collective Against Islamophobia.