(Originally published by TSEC Network on May 19, 2016. Re-printed with permission)
If the Government of Canada knowingly and directly funds an extremist organization, does it then bear responsibility for any subsequent extremist activity? Why would the Government of Canada fund an organization that is known for its Islamist links?
Kitchener Centre MP Raj Saini has just announced that the Kitchener Masjid, which is part of the Muslim Association of Canada[1], will receive a federal grant. The money is coming from a community infrastructure program celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday. The $197,000 will be used towards renovation of the mosque.[2]
The Senate of Canada heard in May of 2015[3] that the Muslim Brotherhood, listed as a terrorist organization in a number of countries[4], has a series of some eight to ten front organizations in Canada. Among them are the Muslim Association of Canada, what used to be called CAIR-CAN, now the National Council of Canadian Muslims, Islamic Relief Canada and the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy – Canada, IRFAN. IRFAN no longer exists as it lost it charitable status for funding terrorism and was later declared to be a terrorism entity.[5]
The testimony to the Senate was given by Dr. Lorenzo Vidino who is the Director of the Program on Extremism at the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, George Washington University. He has also held positions at the Centre for Security Studies, the Rand Corporation, the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and the U.S. Institute of Peace.
The Government of the United Kingdom also released a report in late 2015 that stated the Muslim Brotherhood, “which can be seen primarily as a political project,” had a “highly ambiguous relationship with violent extremism.” The Muslim Brotherhood is “deliberately opaque, and habitually secretive” and that both as “an ideology and as a network it has been a rite of passage for some individuals and groups who have gone on to engage in violence and terrorism.”[6]
The Muslim Association of Canada itself has presented the following on its own website:
We believe that the efforts of Al-Banna and subsequent generations of the Muslim Brotherhood remain the truest reflection of Islamic practice in the modern era.[7]
The Muslim Association of Canada also says:
Much of the philosophy and vision of the Muslim Association of Canada derives from the heritage of the Muslim Brotherhood.[8]
Dr. El-Tantawy Attia, [9] is the executive director of the Masjid Toronto[10] which is also identified as being part of the Muslim Association of Canada. [11] The Masjid and the Toronto chapter office of Muslim Association of Canada are in the same building. Dr. Attia made his views clear with respect to the Masjid when he stated:
“Here, we follow the teachings of the Muslim Brotherhood.”[12]
