Ottawa – On March 12, 2024, Public Safety Canada announced a federal investment of $195,231 over three years to King’s College London to expand their Repository of Extremist Aligned Documents (READ). This funding was made possible through the Community Resilience Fund (CRF).
King’s College London – International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR)
Project title: Repository of Extremist Aligned Documents (READ)
Total funding amount: $195,231
Project Duration: 2023-2026 (3 years)
The READ is a secured, controlled resource comprised of documents and primary sources about ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE). It is housed at King’s College London’s International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR). The READ is designed to support in-depth work by researchers and practitioners to better understand forms of IMVE such as white supremacist, xenophobic, anti-authority, and gender-driven manifestations. This project will enable ICSR to develop and strengthen the READ, through expanding the range of IMVE actors and movements covered, improving the online interface, and providing more support for researchers and practitioners, including trend analysis. This expansion of the READ will involve collaboration with Canadian universities, as well as engagement with the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), including to help identify and address research and policy needs to respond to current and emerging trends.
The Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence (Canada Centre)
Launched in 2017 and housed in Public Safety Canada, the Canada Centre is the government’s centre of excellence domestically and internationally on prevention of violent extremism. Its work is complementary to – but distinct from – national security, law enforcement, and criminal justice approaches. The Canada Centre leads the National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence, working with academia and community-based organizations to better understand and prevent radicalization to violence before tragedies occur. The Canada Centre also funds targeted programming for research and front-line providers through the CRF.
The Canada Centre’s activities include:
- Policy guidance including the development and implementation of the National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence.
- Promoting coordination and collaboration with a range of stakeholders to build and share knowledge, and to respond to local level realities and prevent radicalization to violence.
- Funding, planning and coordinating research to better understand radicalization to violence and how best to counter it, and mobilizing research to front-line individuals working to prevent radicalization to violence.
- Supporting interventions through the Canada Centre’s Community Resilience Fund to provide financial support to initiatives that aim to prevent radicalization to violence in Canada.
Preventing and countering online hate and violent extremism in all its forms is a complex and ever-evolving issue. The Government of Canada actively works with Five Eyes partners, through the Five Country Ministerial process, as well as with its G7 allies, the technology industry, experts, and civil society to more effectively counter IMVE in the online space.
Community Resilience Fund (CRF)
Public Safety Canada’s CRF supports research and community-based projects for the prevention of violent extremism.
The CRF provides opportunities for local communities, organizations, practitioners, researchers and youth-led initiatives to receive funds for countering radicalization to violence initiatives, as well as for international subject matter experts to help develop evidence-based prevention in Canada. Supporting and enhancing partnerships and innovation in research and programming is key to countering radicalization to violence in Canada.
The CRF has a total of $7 million available annually to fund new and innovative projects. More than $69 million in funding to 78 projects has been provided through the program since its creation in 2017.