Canadian women giving birth to next generation of ISIS fighters, University of Waterloo researchers find

Three Canadian women who travelled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS have given birth, and two others are pregnant, according to research from a group that is monitoring Canadians who travel overseas to fight in regional conflicts.  

The group, based at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ont., have been following about 60 men, 20 of whom are now dead, and 10 women. 

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Hicham Tiflati, who lives in Montreal, is an associate researcher with the group and also the project co-ordinator of New Muslim Public Spheres in the Digital Age. He and has been working with Muslim youth for the past five years and with the University of Waterloo group for the last year. 

The young women, who are between the ages of 18 and 22, "are not engaging in jihad, or in the fight. Most of them are just back at their homes, taking care of their kids if they have any," Tiflati said in an interview with CBC Radio's Craig Norris on The Morning Edition.

Their babies, however, are a public relations coup for ISIS, Hicham said. 

"What it means is that we are having a new generation of Western ISIS babies," he said. "[ISIS leaders] are bragging about it online, on Twitter, that we cannot censor them because their ideology is being passed on to a new generation."

Tough situation

Tiflati said he has been able to connect with families of Canadians who have travelled to Syria after names are reported in the media or through contacts in the community.

He has met with some of the women's families in Canada and they are heartbroken by the situation.

Whenever he meets with one mother of one of the women in Syria "she is just in tears because she completely understands that the granddaughter has nothing to do with it," Tiflati said.

"You can't just book a ticket and go visit," he said. "They know their children are stuck, and they can't leave because once you enter Raqqa (Syria) or Mosul (Iraq), you can't even denounce what ISIS is doing."

Tiflati said there are many different reasons why the women leave to join ISIS. Some go because it's an adventure, some because they don't feel like they're Canadians or Quebecers, and some are following their boyfriends.

He said most of the women who go are recent converts to the Muslim faith. 

It's not clear if women who go are forced to stay, but Tiflati said it would be difficult for a woman to leave. He said ISIS will kill anyone it suspects has plans to leave. If the women do make it out and back to Canada, they could be considered "serious security threats" by the federal government. 

A 2014 public report on the terrorist threat to Canada said an individual commits an offence if they leave or attempt to leave the country to knowingly participate in or contribute to any activity of a terrorist group "for the purpose of enhancing the ability of any terrorist group to commit a terrorist activity."