REGINA – Saskatchewan’s Muslim community is trying to improve the safety nets in an effort to prevent radicalization.
Muslim leaders met with the Ministry of Corrections and Policing to discuss expanded services for communities who identify people in need of assistance.
The initiative was sparked by the work of Zarqa Nawaz, who is known for her TV show Little Mosque on the Prairie. She’s also involved with the Islamic Association of Saskatchewan.
In The Huffington Post, Nawaz said she wanted to “make sure there is a Muslim-based social safety net in place for vulnerable people who come to my mosque.”
The article was written in the days that followed the October 22 shooting on Parliament Hill.
“We’ve never had to deal with these issues before.”
Nawaz told reporters at the legislature Thursday that extremist messages may be overpowering for some people who have been turned away by their mosque.
“There are people taking those messages to heart,” said Nawaz. “How are we going to deprogram them? How are we going to create systems of intervention?”
One solution could be expansion of the Hub, a program which serves as a crisis prevention unit.
“If a person is at-risk of becoming radicalized … this model can intervene in a person’s life, their family life, in a positive way, to try and help them with whatever issues they’re dealing with” said corrections and policing minister Christine Tell.
Nawaz hopes the wider social work community can intervene with individuals who aren’t reachable through ordinary education.
“It’s something that’s very new for our community. We’ve never had to deal with these issues before,” Zawaz said.
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