Letter: Take a hard line on terrorism
It is true that there are no easy solutions to dealing with the growing problem of “would-be jihadists” who travel to war zones and then slip back into Canada.
But while deradicalization should be an important goal, we should not lose sight of the fact that Canadians who travel to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State are not simple citizens who made a bad choice in life. They wilfully joined and supported a group that is carrying out genocide and crimes against humanity against Christians and other minority groups, enslaving women, killing journalists and aid workers, brainwashing children and turning them into child soldiers, while also destroying some of the world’s most cherished antiquities and world heritage sites.
If our society prosecutes people for petty crimes like shoplifting, should we not take a harder line against those who directly or indirectly carry out atrocities? I believe the answer should be yes.
Kyle Matthews, senior deputy director, Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, Concordia University
This story was originally published August 13, 2015 at 1:42 PM.
