son involved with white supremacist groups.
"He is continuing to fall further away into a direction and into a place where he will become more radicalized and violent," the man's father told Radio-Canada.
The family say they reached out to a Quebec government-funded deradicalization centre in Montreal, where 10 per cent of the calls come from outside the province, mostly the Toronto area, but say they were told the centre's mandate was to help those in its jurisdiction.
Their struggle highlights the absence of deradicalization help available in Ontario, where to date there are no programs specifically designed to help young people in their son's situation.
That may soon be changing. In April, the Canadian Council of Imams announced it is working to launch two to three deradicalization clinics starting this fall.
But the family say they feel stuck. Their ordeal began about 10 years ago when their son, whom they describe as "highly intelligent," started spending hours on end interacting with white supremacist groups online. Over the years, his behaviour began to change; he grew socially isolated and began spewing hateful rhetoric, the family say.
It's a transformation that Prince George, B.C.-based Daniel Gallant has lived first-hand. A former neo-Nazi, Gallant now combines his experience in white supremacist circles with his counselling psychology background to help young people make their exit from extremist groups.
Gallant first shared his story on a national scale as part of "Extreme Dialogue," a federally funded program by Public Safety Canada that aims to "reduce the appeal of extremism among young people." But, he says, the resources for those engaged in the effort against extremism are severely lacking.
"We have ongoing recruitment of youth both with the right-wing narrative and within the ISIS narrative and others … and the longer that we wait for these resources to be developed, the worse the problem is going to get," Gallant said.
The Toronto parents said they took their concerns to local police, but were told little can be done unless their son posed an imminent threat to others or himself.
video
Toronto couple desperate for help to deradicalize son involved with white supremacist groups - Toronto - CBC News
"He is continuing to fall further away into a direction and into a place where he will become more radicalized and violent," the man's father told Radio-Canada.
The family say they reached out to a Quebec government-funded deradicalization centre in Montreal, where 10 per cent of the calls come from outside the province, mostly the Toronto area, but say they were told the centre's mandate was to help those in its jurisdiction.
Their struggle highlights the absence of deradicalization help available in Ontario, where to date there are no programs specifically designed to help young people in their son's situation.
That may soon be changing. In April, the Canadian Council of Imams announced it is working to launch two to three deradicalization clinics starting this fall.
But the family say they feel stuck. Their ordeal began about 10 years ago when their son, whom they describe as "highly intelligent," started spending hours on end interacting with white supremacist groups online. Over the years, his behaviour began to change; he grew socially isolated and began spewing hateful rhetoric, the family say.
It's a transformation that Prince George, B.C.-based Daniel Gallant has lived first-hand. A former neo-Nazi, Gallant now combines his experience in white supremacist circles with his counselling psychology background to help young people make their exit from extremist groups.
Gallant first shared his story on a national scale as part of "Extreme Dialogue," a federally funded program by Public Safety Canada that aims to "reduce the appeal of extremism among young people." But, he says, the resources for those engaged in the effort against extremism are severely lacking.
"We have ongoing recruitment of youth both with the right-wing narrative and within the ISIS narrative and others … and the longer that we wait for these resources to be developed, the worse the problem is going to get," Gallant said.
The Toronto parents said they took their concerns to local police, but were told little can be done unless their son posed an imminent threat to others or himself.
video
Toronto couple desperate for help to deradicalize son involved with white supremacist groups - Toronto - CBC News