Report alleges Muslim Brotherhood infiltrating Canadian institutions, fomenting antisemitism

A new report alleges the Muslim Brotherhood is infiltrating Canadian institutions through non-profit organizations and universities as part of a broader transnational ideological strategy.

The 200-page study from the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy argues the group and others are helping to foment antisemitism in Canada through pro-Palestinian activism and anti-Islamophobia rhetoric.

"Under the radar, Canada is being infiltrated," said Charles Small, founder and director of ISGAP.

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The report says organizations are often funded through sophisticated financial channels that run through Qatar and have embedded themselves in some of Canada's biggest universities.

It argues the Muslim Brotherhood seeks to embed pro-Islamism into Canadian life primarily through "entryism," or changing institutions from within.

Canada, with its preference for multicultural ideals and lax immigration laws, is particularly susceptible to such efforts, Small said.

"The Muslim Brotherhood manipulates and uses these democratic principles and our cultural institutions in a way that allows them to enter into our society, to enter into higher education, to enter into the Muslim community, to create mosques and civic organizations that are radicalized," Small said.

The report cites groups like the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council and The Canadian-Muslim Vote, which it says have become organs for mobilizing Muslim voting bases in Canada.

It says those groups have been "employing a targeted riding strategy across 60 to 80 federal constituencies where the Muslim population approaches or exceeds the margin of victory," backing candidates on their Palestine and Islamophobia positions.

CMPAC's executive director, Khaled al-Qazzaz, was former foreign affairs secretary to former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, and the former president of the Brotherhood's political arm in Egypt in 2011 and 2012.

In response to the report's allegations, CMPAC dismissed the claims outright.

"The ISGAP report lacks credibility and is full of biased claims that makes it more of an Islamophobic propaganda piece than research," it said. "CMPAC is a non-for-profit Canadian organization that advocates for civil liberties and against Islamophobia in Canada."

A CMPAC spokesperson said the organization was "very concerned about rising anti-semitism, Islamophobia and hate in Canada," and said it is a domestically-funded non-profit group.

"CMPAC relies entirely on Canadian funds from individuals, private granting organizations and events' sponsorship. CMPAC does not receive any funds from any foreign entity."

CMPAC said Al-Qazzaz had worked for "one year as a staffer in the first democratically-elected government of Egypt, working on Egypt's new human rights agenda and the development of Egypt's new foreign policy vision."

Al-Qazzaz was arrested and imprisoned in 2013 alongside others alleged to be aligned with the Morsi government. He was never charged but was held for nine months before returning to Canada in 2016.

A lawyer representing TCMV called the ISGAP report "inflammatory" and said it was calling on the organization to retract its assertions.

"TCMV has sent a Notice of Libel to ISGAP seeking a retraction and apology for these allegations," Jeff Saikaley, partner at law firm Caza Saikaley, said in an email. "TCMV will consider any republication of these allegations to be defamatory and will take appropriate legal action should this occur."

On its website, TCMV calls itself "a national, non-partisan charity empowering Canadian Muslims through civic engagement and education" that says it does not "endorse parties, tell you how to vote, lobby politicians, or preach religion."

Saikaley said TCMV's mandate was to "empower Canadian Muslims through civic education, political engagement, and leadership, fostering an informed and active community that contributes to Canada's democracy."

The Muslim Brotherhood is a movement that began in Egypt in the 1920s seeking to establish core Islamic values as a foundation for society.

Various Middle Eastern nations, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have outlawed the Brotherhood and designated it a terrorist organization.

Canadian lawmakers have faced pressure domestically to also designate the group as such.

The report comes after ISGAP's separate study last year, which asserted that the Muslim Brotherhood was systematically influencing various U.S. institutions, and called for the group to be designated as a terrorist organization.

Days later, the Trump administration said it would designate certain chapters of the Brotherhood as global terrorists.

Researchers in France have raised similar concerns recently about the Muslim Brotherhood's entryism there, warning that it threatens to undermine the country's secular identity.

British authorities have raised similar alarms about the group, but so far have done little to stem its influence.

Internal Muslim Brotherhood texts like the 1991 "Explanatory Memorandum," the ISGAP argues, explicitly outline plans to reshape Western society, including Canada, from within.

"We don't understand the ideology, the goals, the religious worldview of the Brotherhood, what the strategic and military or philosophical underpinnings are," Small said.

With files from National Post