Missing men subject to Canadian law: Van Loan

In an interview yesterday, Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan would not comment on the continuing investigation but said Canadians who travelled overseas to participate in terrorist activities could face prosecution in Canada.

"If I put it [in] the most general terms, people can face consequences for involvement in terrorist acts abroad," he told the National Post.

"Just because you were doing bad stuff elsewhere doesn't make you immune from prosecution in Canada."

The RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service have been canvassing Toronto's large Somali community for information about six young men who suddenly vanished without informing their friends or parents.

The investigation has become a matter of national security interest because of a pattern of similar behaviour in the United States, where at least 20 young Somali-Americans have gone missing only to turn up in Somalia with Al-Shabab, an Islamist militia aligned with al-Qaeda.

The parents and Canadian authorities fear the missing Toronto youths may have also decided to join Al Shabab. One has phoned home to say he is well and in Kenya, which shares a border with the Al-Shabab stronghold in southern Somalia.

Al-Shabab is an outlawed terrorist organization in the United States, but not in Canada. Mr. Van Loan would not say whether he intended to add the group to Canada's list of terrorist entities.

But he said Canada could still prosecute suspected terrorists regardless of whether the group they are accused of joining was on Ottawa's blacklist. "It would all depend on the acts that you're being prosecuted for and the evidence," he said.

Canada is home to 150,000 ethnic Somalis, the largest population outside Africa, according to a "secret" report by Canada's Integrated Threat Assessment Centre. Islamist extremism has "severely limited appeal" with Canada's Somali community, it adds.

But in a speech last month, RCMP Commissioner William Elliott warned that the radicalization that has drawn Somali-Americans youths into militancy and Al-Shabab may have spread to Canada.

"We're concerned about homegrown radicalization and extremism across the board, and an element of that, focused on some from the Somali community, is part of what we have been concerned about and are watching," Mr. Van Loan said.

"I think it's important that Canadians be aware that here in Canada we are not immune to these kinds of terrorist risks and involvements. It continues to be a trend that we see in significant numbers. It requires vigilance on our part, which we, of course, are applying. And it's important that Canadians not let down their guard and the government not let down its guard."