Winnipeg professor developing tool kit to help teachers spot burgeoning extremism in students

A Winnipeg professor is developing a tool kit to help teachers in the province identify the early stages of extremism in their students so it can be addressed before thoughts and musings turn to violent actions.

Kawser Ahmed, an adjunct professor at the University of Winnipeg who studies extremism, hate and radicalization, received $400,000 from Public Safety Canada and the university to develop the tool kit over the next two years.

Youth are more vulnerable than ever to being radicalized because of connectivity and the presence of digitally savvy people who produce hate-filled conspiracy materials, he said.

"This connectivity, in one side, is a great advantage to connect with others, but on the other, it is very easy to motivate people in these really problematic causes," Ahmed told CBC News.

"Google will produce 1.8 million results in five seconds, but the top five, 10 or 20 results, how do you know that these are authentic and legitimate? There is no way, and in the world of fake news and conspiracy theories, it is even [more] difficult."

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Introduction: PredationEdit

Ultimately, the source of energy for all life originates from the sun. Plants utilize the sun's energy, animals eat plants and utilize the plants' energy, and some animals eat other animals and utilize their energy. The food chain is a cycle of predation, and although it is necessary for life to exist, it has to have limits. Prey develop defenses against their predators, and predators strive to overcome such obstacles. The balance between survival of prey and predator is part of the reason that our ecosystem is so diverse.