...Osman Ali, executive director of the Somali-Canadian Association of Etobicoke, said the mosques and community groups are hamstrung, not having enough money for programs to properly integrate Somali youth so their Islamic beliefs could co-exist with a more “Canadian” mindset of western culture and values.
“They are asking the mosques to help these people, but the extent that they want programs for these youth, they don’t have the means,” said Ali from his small second-floor office in the Thistledown Multi-Services Centre in Rexdale. What’s needed are employment workshops, leadership training and “elder” speakers who could talk both about the peaceful aspects of Islam and the dangers of radicalism on the Internet, Ali said.It's hard to square that, though, with this, from another Sun story, one detailing the arrest of a Canadian-born Somali lad who was apprehended before he had a chance to hook up with al-Shabaab:
“The mosques try their best with prayers and schools,” he said.
“The people at the mosques preach peace ... but they don’t have the means and the funds to really integrate them.”
The former University of Toronto Scarborough campus health sciences student had been meeting “friends” for weeks at a local mosque who may have had an influence on him, some community members said.Looks like it may not be a money problem so much as it is a mosque problem.
Update: Jews to the rescue!
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