A recommendation by a Senate committee to certify imams is discriminatory, according the leader of the city’s only mosque.
A Conservative-dominated committee of Senate looking at ways to combat terror has recommended training and certifying imams practising in this country.
“If I am certified, all clerics should be certified,” said Imam Mazhar Mahmood, who leads Muslims living in Kamloops.
Mahmood said he is a member of a number of Muslim bodies in Canada, including the National Council of Canadian Muslims.
He is also general secretary of the Imams Association of Western Canada.
He said radicalization of young people in his country is done by “self-professed” imams or through contact on the Internet.
“We have zero tolerance for radicalization,” he said of organized Muslim groups in this country.
Catholic Bishop David Monroe said organized religions, including his own, are self-policing through internal procedures and outside measures, including criminal record checks. He said it is not fair to certify religious leaders.
“I wouldn’t single it out to one group.”
Monroe said radicalization of youth is not dependent on meeting with clerics from any religion.
“Just look at how much talking [on the Internet] goes on without qualification.”
Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Conservative MP Cathy McLeod said she disagrees with any recommendation that government involve itself in the certification of imams.