A Global News story about the threat posed by returning ISIS fighters, headlined “ISIS fighters are coming back to Canada. Are they a threat? It’s complicated: report” is a real head scratcher.

The authors of the referenced report used a study from the Soufan Center to make their conclusions but a close comparison of both pieces might leave you wondering if Global News read the same report.

The study couldn’t make the security threat posed by Canadians returning home from fighting alongside the Islamic State, clearer.

It discusses different types of returnees, stating: “All returnees, whatever their reason for going home, will continue to pose some risk.”

Global News managed to sugar coat facts that demonstrate it’s not just male returnees that we should be worried about with study authors noting that ISIS has trained child terrorists, and even women have been involved in plotting and executing terrorist acts.

We know first-hand that returning ISIS sympathizers present a risk to Canadians when just last month, a single terrorist attempted to stab a police officer and execute a truck attack that injured another four people in Edmonton.

In fact, it appears Global’s own expert, former CIA chief and now adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University, Graham Fuller, agrees that even one single terrorist poses a safety risk to Canadians, telling the news organization:

“I don’t think many of these people do constitute a threat, but how many does it take?”

Of course, his statement was buried at the end of the article.

Either way it seems we all agree that returnees pose a serious threat to Canadians, except Global News.