In Our Midst

"IRFAN-Canada is choosing not to accept donations at this time because they are unable to transmit funds to the intended destinations. Therefore, without donations, they will be forced to suspend their humanitarian relief programs."
Naseer Syed, lawyer for IRFAN-Canada

The International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy - Canada, has been put out of business. No longer able to provide support for orphans and victims of war in the Middle East. Just about as tragic as the earlier incarnation of a humanitarian relief group called Human Concern International.

That one gave funding to al-Qaeda as a charity that was actually supported by CIDA for a number of years, through supporting the fund-raising efforts of the infamous Ahmed Said Khadr who while under arrest in Pakistan for terrorism activities related to the bombing of an Islamabad embassy, was released thanks to the kind intervention of Prime Minister Jean Chretien, appealing to then-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Then there's Benevolence International, yet another Muslim charity, its head office in Illinois, which benevolence aided the work of Osama bin Laden. Mr. Khadr as director of Human Concern International was involved with Benevolence International as well.

Between 1980 and 1997 CIDA subsidized al-Qaeda through funding Human Concern to the tune of $325,000. That money helped to fund the Pakistan bombing, orchestrated by Al Zawahiri. It was the U.S. that linked Mr. Khadr and Benevolence International which raised money from Canadian Muslims through mosques and student groups at an Ontario branch.

Obviously, Canada is well infiltrated by Islamists working to extract funding from gullible Canadian Muslims in the guise of charitable enterprise on behalf of the poor and downtrodden, the war-weary refugees and the orphans resulting from wars in the Muslim world. IRFAN-Canada gathered and spent $9-million on charitable activities it funded in 2009.

Two years ago, however, its official  charitable funding status in Canada was removed because of suspected links to the Hamas terrorists listed by the government of Canada.

And now CIBC through whose banking auspices their funding is streamed to the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon and Sudan, ostensibly for the purpose of supporting orphans, has distanced itself formally from any financing connections with the group. Leaving them rather adrift as far as their humanitarian work is concerned.

IRFAN-Canada caught the attention of the Canada Revenue Agency which conducted an audit resulting in the revokation of its charity status in 2011.

"Our analysis of the audit information has led the CRA to believe that IRFAN-Canada provides support to Hamas. Our findings indicate that IRFAN-Canada provided over $14.6-million in resources to operating partners that were run by officials of Hamas, openly supported and provided funding to Hamas, or have been listed by various jurisdictions because of their support for Hamas or other terrorist entities." 

The CRA had also discovered IRFAN-Canada videos at the Mississauga office which "demonize Israel, characterize the Arab-Israeli conflict as a religious war, appeal for all Arab and Muslim nations to join in the struggle against Israel and glorify martyrdom."

Canada, it seems, has become a branch-plant offshoot of Islamism's war against Israel, the West, and other Islamic regimes whose oversight of rigid attention to fundamentalist Islamic precepts seems to lack sufficient commitment. An oversight that renders them legitimate targets for jihad. And Canada's right in there, helpfully assisting the process along.

IRFAN-Canada has appealed the denial of its charity status to Federal Court. It continues in the interim to operate as a non-profit group. With the withdrawal of CIBC's estimable assistance in aiding in the forwarding of currency to aid recipient countries, IRFAN-Canada protests the damage to its reputation which would cause its donor base to fade away and that as a result, "demise will come to the organization"; hugely regrettable.

Unimpressed, Justice Beth Allen has dismissed the case against CIBC, ordering the charity to pay the bank's legal costs of $10,000; utterly mortifying, no doubt. She had found that the charitable group had, despite its obvious best efforts supplied "little or no" support for its arguments, and that CIBC was perfectly entitled to terminate a banking relationship it found not to be compatible with its values, having given perfectly reasonable advance notice.

IRFAN-Canada has written to its donors explaining that it had "recently experienced problems with the bank we deal with because of concerns raised by the Canada Revenue Agency", therefore, it would "not be in a position to process any new donations. This situation is expected to last until our appeal of the CRA decision is heard later this year at the Federal Court of Canada, at which time we hope and believe our case will be resolved successfully."

Recall, if you will, Jean Chretien's helpfulness to Khadr senior, whose son has recently returned to Canada from incarceration at Guantanamo Bay as a war criminal. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau last December made an appearance at an Islamic conference held in Toronto that had been sponsored in part by IRFAN-Canada; the ensuing controversy led the charity to withdraw from the event, and Justin Trudeau graciously gave of his time and political expertise.

No word what or whether he charged for appearance at that event.