When Yasmin Ugas rides the Edmonton LRT, she won’t cross the yellow line out of fear someone will push her into the path of an oncoming train.
Ugas says that fear is only getting worse.
This fear, the feeling of alienation expressed by Ugas, was just one of the many things addressed at the first annual Social Justice Forum put on by the Ogaden Somali Community of Alberta Residence (OSCAR) on Saturday
- 3 ISIS recruits from Edmonton believed killed
- Edmonton Somali group wants Harper’s help to prevent ISIS recruitment
- Terror-related charges laid against Edmonton-area teen
Around 200 people, many of them women, made their way to NAIT’s Shaw Theatre to discuss the topic of the forum, “Finding common solution for youth radicalization and terrorism.”
The forum hosted a plethora of politicians, community leaders, human rights activists, doctors, and youth speaking on the issue. Ugas said this inclusion of Somali youth in the discussion was a welcome change of pace.
“It just brings me hope that we can have our voices heard,” Ugas said.
‘A very sensationalized problem’
In early 2015, three Edmonton cousins were believed to be killed after going overseas and fighting for ISIS. A few months later a different 17-year-old boy was charged with trying to leave Canada to commit an act of terror.
Several organizers and speakers at the event refuted that radicalization in Edmonton was statistically a problem, but they still felt the issue was an important one to address.