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Project Announcement: Prevention Academy Canada — Training Municipal Leaders and Officials on Addressing Hate, Extremism and Social Polarisation

Publication Date:

18/07/2025

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News

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Canadian Center for Safer Communitiesdigital literacyFoundation for a Path ForwardNorth America Regional HubOnline hatePrevention Academy CanadaSocial Polarisation

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The Challenge

Cascading national and global crises have put considerable strain on Canadian municipalities and local officials as they face rising levels of hate, discrimination, division and social polarisation in their communities. Online and offline, individuals are becoming radicalised at younger ages, exposed to extremist content and conspiracies, including through mis- and disinformation, accelerated by new technologies and digital platforms. Local officials are also closely monitoring online hate speech and extremist activity that often aim to mobilise towards offline violence, targeting individuals and communities at intersections of gender, race, faith and age, and disrupting public life and day-to-day local governance.  

Municipalities, due to their immediate proximity to incidents and the undeniable effects on community safety and well-being, are increasingly recognising the importance of their role in addressing these threats and for long-term prevention. However, many, particularly in small municipalities, must meet the pressing demands of competing priorities and navigate numerous needs with fewer staff, resources and training. Prevention Academy Canada, which is being funded by a grant from Public Safety Canada, will support and empower participating municipalities with varying sizes, demographics and needs to rise to the challenges and opportunities in their specific contexts. 

The Prevention Academy: Goals and Objectives

The Strong Cities North America Regional Hub, in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Safer Communities and the Foundation for a Path Forward, is launching Prevention Academy Canada. Expanding on the success of the Prevention Academy in the United States, the model will uniquely tailor approaches to the local context and align them with broader existing safety and wellbeing and violence prevention efforts across municipalities. Our approach focuses on the unique role that local governments, elected local leaders and municipal councils can play in prevention and how best to unlock the potential of existing resources, partners and local ecosystems. 

The Academy will empower mayors, elected officials, chief administrative officers, senior municipal officials and other local stakeholders to:  

• Understand the hate landscape, including online harms and offline threats; 
• Build resilience within communities through public health approaches and multi-sector partnerships;
• Counter online hate and strengthen information integrity through digital literacy and community empowerment initiatives;
• Model and communicate values of connectedness and belonging for residents to also embrace;
• Develop effective referral mechanisms and support systems for individuals at risk of radicalisation to violence;
• Implement and sustain prevention efforts through monitoring, evaluation and public-private collaborations; and
• Manage crisis communications and post-incident response. 

The Prevention Academy: Methodology and Curriculum

The Prevention Academy consists of a series of ten learning modules delivered by local subject-matter experts and Strong Cities staff over the course of ten months, supplemented by peer-to-peer learning opportunities, capacity-building initiatives and technical assistance. Each cycle will launch and conclude with in-person workshops to convene local elected leaders from across the provinces; the first cohort, for example, will gather at the Strong Cities Sixth Global Summit in Toronto in December 2025.  

The Academy’s learning modules will be largely conducted virtually and will include the following topics: 

• Understanding the Hate Landscape – Data Collection and Threat Assessment 
• Multi-Level Partnerships – National, provincial, municipal and community collaboration 
• Small Cities, Big Impact – Prevention Strategies for Small Municipalities 
• Countering Online Hate – Digital Literacy and Community Empowerment partnerships/programmes in preventing on- and offline threats 
• Leading by Example – The Role of Mayors and Councils in Preventing Hate 
• Building a Prevention Network – Engaging Partners and Leveraging Resources  
• Community-Driven Prevention – Engaging Diverse Voices and Building Trust 
• Intervention and Support: Referral Mechanisms and ‘Wrap-Around’ Services 
• Sustaining Prevention – Monitoring, Evaluation and Public-Private Partnerships 
• Navigating Crisis – Effective Communication and Post-Incident Response 

Municipalities will also participate in virtual office hours to connect with mayoral advisors and liaisons identified for the Academy, as well as with other cohort members, to assist municipalities with emergent issues and/or long-horizon planning related to hate and extremism. Throughout their participation, municipalities can also access the Strong Cities help desk and living library of online resources, connecting with a growing global network of members and subject matter experts from different disciplines. 

Prevention Academy activities will culminate in the development and implementation of a more targeted, collaborative action in each municipality for addressing hate and extremism that can lead to violence. Between 2025 and 2027, Strong Cities will run two cycles of the Prevention Academy with up to ten seats per cohort. 

Partner Contributions

In addition to the Strong Cities team, former Saskatoon (Saskatchewan, Canada) Mayor Charlie Clark will serve as a senior mayoral advisor. Mayor Clark will guide project engagement with mayors and other local elected officials. Strong Cities will also leverage its growing pool of subject matter experts – including current and former city officials – to contribute to the development and delivery of modules based on the areas of their expertise. Finally, Strong Cities will draw on the experiences of cities in its 270+ member network (across 70 countries) and the tools it has developed to support city-led prevention efforts, resources which will be tailored for the Canadian context.  

Expected Outcomes

Expected outcomes for participating municipalities include: 

• Better understanding of the local hate landscape and identifying the threats, needs and vulnerabilities in their municipalities as they relate to hate, extremism and related threats;
• Appreciation for the benefits of a public health approach to prevention and the essential role they play in operationalising and sustaining it;
• Development of whole-of-city approaches to prevent hate, extremism and polarisation;
• Building and/or strengthening multisectoral partnerships for social cohesion, community wellbeing and lasting change.

About the Strong Cities Network 

Strong Cities is an independent global network of 270+ cities and other local governments – including more than 40 members in North America – dedicated to addressing all forms of hate, extremism and polarisation, while promoting a human rights-based prevention framework. Through in-person and online convenings, exchanges and trainings, Strong Cities facilitates sharing and learning among mayors and other local leaders as well as municipal-level practitioners. By doing so, it helps local authorities leverage their full potential in prevention, while complementing national, regional and global efforts.   

About the Canadian Centre for Safer Communities 

The Canadian Centre for Safer Communities brings together urban, rural and Indigenous communities across Canada to foster community safety and well-being through training, research and knowledge exchange. They are a membership-based not-for-profit organisation representing over 100 communities and approximately 50% of the national population. The Centre offers a broad range of services for its members, including community of practice meetings, evidence reviews, toolkits and guides, networking and mentoring opportunities, and other knowledge mobilisation initiatives. Additionally, they work directly with communities and other orders of government on strategic planning and research projects, including community safety and well-being planning, monitoring and evaluation of community safety initiatives, gun and gang violence prevention, crime prevention in rural areas and more.   

About the Foundation for a Path Forward 

Championing innovative and evidence-based anti-racism and community resilience programmes, since its inception in 2020, the Foundation has impacted over 750,000 individuals, formed 200+ organisational relationships, and established an office in Toronto, Calgary and Moncton. The Foundation’s anti-racist and start-up mindset is developing and delivering innovative and impactful solutions for key challenges faced by Canadians, including racism, public safety, gender equality, youth empowerment, mental health, interfaith and communal tensions, refugees and more. 

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