Christianne Boudreau: One Mother’s Quest to Prevent Radicalisation

Here at FAST we are very familiar with Christianne Boudreau’s work. Last December, we were fortunate enough to meet her at a conference by Women Without Borders and hear her powerful story first-hand.

Christianne’s son Damian left Calgary, Canada in 2012 for Syria and was killed fighting for ISIS at the tragically young age of 22.

“I was sick to my stomach. I had no idea what this movement was about. Didn’t understand anything about it. Didn’t even realise that this type of thing existed and spent a good amount of my time after that researching everything to try to get an understanding.”

The grief and trauma caused by Damian’s death turned into a powerful motivator to prevent this from happening to other families. She is now working to stem the tide of extremism by launching the Mothers for Life Network, which aims to bring moms across the globe together to support families affected by jihadist violence. She has also worked with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and Women Without Borders, as well as tried to set up the Canadian version of the German de-radicalisation group, Hayat.

Most recently she has also launched the campaign Extreme Dialogue, which aims to reduce the appeal of extremism through a series of short documentary films. In these films she speaks frankly about how violent extremism has impacted her life.

We applaud you Christianne for your bravery, and for your tireless work.