"In the Current Climate of Islamophobia"

"There are sufficient grounds for the revocation of the Organization's charity registration."

"[Some members of the Muslim Association of Canada's senior leadership were] clearly engaging in activities that would be considered in support of the Muslim Brotherhood [manifesting in the organization's activities and decisions]."

Canada Revenue Agency

 

"[The Canada Revenue Agency conducted an unfair evaluation through a] Protestant-Christian lens [amounting to] systemic Islamophobia; [members' freedom of religion, expression and assembly were violated]."

Muslim Association of Canada

"It is perhaps not surprising that agencies whose mandate it is to monitor terrorist threats would focus on the more prominent threats at any one time."

"In recent years, one major source of such threats has involved groups that pervert Islam and falsely cloak themselves in its mantle."

"The fact that a donor to a charity also donates money to illegal causes does not mean that the charity is involved in the illegal causes that the donor supports."

"A brief look a the websites of the United, Anglican, Presbyterian and Catholic churches of Canada discloses web links about social action on issues like climate change, the economy, housing, resource extraction, Palestinian rights and LGBTQ+ rights that are similar to statements made by some Canadian political parties."

"No one suggests their charitable status should be revoked because of that."

Judge Markus Koehnen, Ontario Superior Court of Justice

The Canada Revenue Agency's Ottawa headquarters. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

 

The Muslim Association of Canada challenged the Canada Revenue Agency's decision to withdraw its charitable status on the suspicion that the MAC supported outlawed terrorist groups. Verifiable links have been discovered between the MAC and outlawed groups (in Canada and elsewhere) such as Hamas. A letter was sent by the Canada Revenue Agency that various breaches of tax law from 2013 to 2015 were discovered halfway through an audit of the Muslim Association by the CRA.

The breaches ranged from maintenance of flawed record keeping, to improper links between the MAC and the Muslim Brotherhood and a Canadian front for Hamas. The conclusion was revocation of charitable status for the MAC, leading to a court challenge of the audit and its conclusion, deleterious to the status and operation of the MAC. The CRA was green-lighted by a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to continue its audit, dismissing the Muslim Association of Canada's challenge to the audit.

According to the Canada Revenue Agency, the MAC violated tax law through its "advancing" of the cause of the Muslim Brotherhood, a recognized international Islamist movement complete with political and charitable arms whose goal is the implementation of Islamic law globally. The Muslim Brotherhood is outlawed in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, so its odour is not only offensive in the West but in the Middle East as well.

A former president of the Muslim Association was held to have worked on a political campaign for the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which the CRA believed was concealed information. As well, the present president is said to have enjoyed an ongoing connection with senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood, supported by emails and conference invitations. 

 

Until 2013, contends the CRA, the Muslim Association had been providing resources to the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy allowing it to sponsor events, promoting it, and giving it a fund-raising platform. Incriminating in view of the fact that the International Relief Fund's charity registration had been revoked in 2011 by the Canada Revenue Agency following an audit revealing that the organization had sent over $14.6 million to "operating partners that were run by Hamas officials". It was subsequently labelled a terrorist organization in 2014 as a result of its Hamas support. 

 

The Muslim Association, according to the CRA, accepted funds from Qatar Charity, known to fund al-Qaeda, considered part of a Hamas fundraising network titled "Union for Good". The Muslim Association of Canada, according to the Canada Revenue Agency, failed to implement an anti-terrorism policy in "a truly meaningful manner". Judge Markus Koehnen, presiding over MAC's court challenge, ruled that it would be premature to stop the CRA from combing through the file. 

 

In support of the Muslim Association, University of Toronto Islamic legal scholar Professor Anver Emon is of the opinion that Finance Canada's risk model lacks sufficient evidence to flag recipients of terrorism funding from Canada, citing Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Palestinian territories, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen, in the current "climate of Islamophobia".