Why do some young people become violently radicalized?

That’s a question some researchers are trying to determine.

Since January, at least 19 Quebec teens have either left or are suspected of wanting to leave Canada to join jihadi forces in Syria.

It's hard to pinpoint one factor why it happens, say researchers, but what surprises them is the fact that, in some cases, religion only plays a very small role.

“I think they feel that it's a legitimate religious and social response to how they feel and how Muslims are treated in the west in general,” explained Amarnath Amarasingam, a post-doctoral fellow at Dalhousie University who is researching Canadian foreign fighters.

“One of the girls said, ‘I feel dirty being here. I feel dirty and deadly being here,’ she puts it. At first I feel like I don't fit in, but at the same time my continuing to stay here make me feel like I'm responsible for what's happening to Muslims over there,” said Amarasingam.

That sense of not belonging here, the notion of "us" versus "them" seems to be key in why some teens feel so connected to ISIS, explained Hicham Tiflati, a researcher at Université du Québec à Montréal working on the same project.

“When it’s summer and they fly back with their parents, they're tourists, and when they are here, they're immigrants. They're Muslims. They're foreigners,” said Tiflati, who has spoken to the parents and friends of some of the six who left for Syria.

“For most parents, the most common theme, I'm quoting a sentence here: ‘We never saw it coming,’” he said.

One day their teen, backpack in hand, leaves for school just like any other day, except this time they don't come home; they're off to Syria or attempt to go.

“It's very hard and it's very emotional. As you know, in Canada we have criminalized the act, so once you leave, you are by law a criminal. That's also tough for parents,” said Tiflati.

That leaves behind families who now have no support, said Amarasingam.

“They are not treated as victims… because it's terrorism, such a major issue, we don't see the parents as having been victimized by this, we see them as sources of information. We see the community as sources of information,” said Amarasingam.

The question then becomes why it happened.

“Though we cannot pinpoint one factor and say this is it…what we find in common among these youth is most of them are concerned with what is going on overseas in Muslim countries, so they are aware and are very literate about politics,” said Tiflati.

What comes as a surprise, he added, is that religion, at least for those here in Montreal, plays a very small role

“Most of these youths are religious novices,” said Tiflati. “That most of them went from extreme to extreme. Even from the young girls that left, I believe that some of them just decided to wear the hijab a few months before they left.”

In May, 10 teens were arrested at Trudeau Airport. A week later, the RCMP raided homes.

While stopping the teens from leaving the country is important, Tiflati argued that to deal with the radicalization of our youth, we need to understand the why and then address it properly.

“Why these kids don't feel a sense of belonging to Quebec or Canada – is it just a transitional stage or is it something serious that we have to address now? Why is it just a minority? Just give them hope, give them meaning, give them a place to belong,” he said.

The issue is complex, said Amarasingam.

“It's not simply about sitting her down and saying ‘Stop doing what you're doing.’ Unless those legitimate grievances are addressed and another avenue is given to adjust those in a more socially acceptable way, if you want to call it that. It's hard to have vague conversations.”

The experts wonder if we, as a country are equipped to have those conversations and address those concerns. They both don't believe so – at least not yet.

Despite efforts to curb radicalization, it's going to take a lot more than laws and prevention centres to put an end to it, they said.