Muslim Brotherhood Entryism in Canada

"[The TCMV] is a national, non-partisan charity empowering Canadian Muslims through civic engagement and education."

"[It does not] endorse parties, tell you how to vote, lobby politicians, or preach religion."

The Canadian Muslim Vote website

 

"[The Canadian Muslim Vote's mandate is to] empower Canadian Muslims through civic education, political engagement, and leadership, fostering an informed and active community that contributes to Canada's democracy."

"That means encouraging everyone, including our community, to get involved in Canada's democratic system."

"[TCMV does not target some 60 to 80 ridings for the purpose to mobilize Muslim voters, but it] encouraged all Canadians, including all Canadian Muslims, to get out and vote."

Jeff Saikaley, TCMV legal spokesperson

 

"Under the radar, Canada is being infiltrated."

"In the West -- in Canada, but in other Western democratic countries -- we don't really understand what the Muslim Brotherhood is."

"It sounds like a benevolent organization. It's a nice name, [but] we don't understand the ideology, the goals, the religious worldview of the Brotherhood, what the strategic and military or philosophical underpinnings are, and they have mastered us."

Charles Small, founder/director, ISGAP (Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy) "The ISGAP report is nothing more than recycled Islamophobic tropes dressed up as research."

"It is a biased, unsubstantiated hit piece that relies on discredited allegations that were themselves challenged by the Ontario Superior Court for their apparent bias."

"It amplifies narratives designed to fuel Islamophobia and sow division within Canadian society."

Muslim Association of Canada 

Recently releasing a 200-page study, ISGAP outlines an organized campaign of pro-Palestinian activism and anti-Islamophobia charges that -- the international Islamist group that is outlawed in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, but has sprawling outreach globally -- the Muslim Brotherhood and other allied groups have been engaging in, fomenting antisemitism in Canada. Funded through sophisticated financial channels by Qatar, they have infiltrated and established positions of influence within many of Canada's largest and most academically trusted universities.

 

The University of Toronto, University of Waterloo and Toronto Metropolitan University are given special attention in the report where "consistent concerns are identified". Those concerns are inclusive of limited disclosures on sources of foreign funding, a reluctance to disclose intellectual property contracts, plus "use of campus environments as platforms for sustained mobilization, coalition building, and narrative development", among other allied issues.

 

Through Qatar's sovereign Qatar Investment Fund or Qatar National Research Fund, financing activities have backed Canadian university programs which frequently  have rules on limited disclosures. A number of research projects backed by Qatar in such strategic fields as smart grids, carbon systems and secure communications are listed. Details surrounding issues such as intellectual property rights, data access or contractual terms, fail to be disclosed at Toronto Metropolitan University, Waterloo and University of Toronto.

Anti-Israel Protest on the anniversary of 7 October 2023, Moment of silence during vigil held outside of Sidney Smith Hall. CELESTA MANIATOGIANNI/THE VARSITY University of Toronto

 

The influence that has permeated these universities has resulted in their campuses becoming hotbeds of pro-Palestine sentiments, university administrators frequently opting to silence critics and bypass pro-Israel events, according to the report. Responding to an investigative journalist's requests, a spokesperson for University of Toronto  confirmed 11 research grants totalling $1.75M in value from the Qatar National Research Fund. An amount, pointed out the university, minuscule in comparison to the billions it receives from fundraising sources. 

"The university is not subject to foreign influence via research awards, donations or partnerships."

"The university has robust policies that protect the academic integrity of the institution and safeguard research independence and autonomy, and all partnerships and funding agreements comply with these policies and with Canadian regulations."

"[Claims by the report that campus groups at University of Toronto and students support anti-Israel ideation are] without merit." 

University of Toronto spokesperson (name withheld)

An anti-Israel protest outside Concordia University in Montreal on Oct. 7, 2024. Photo by John Mahoney/Montreal Gazette/Postmedia

 

The ISGAP report outlines how groups such as the Muslim Association of Canada aid in advancing ideologies of interests sympathetic to the causes of the Muslim Brotherhood through affiliation with non-profits and other groups based in Canada. The Canada Revenue Agency preliminary audit of Muslim Association of Canada alleged that some of its activities "appear to be in furtherance of the Muslim Brotherhood organization"; that many activities of the charity failed the test of explicit charity designation.
 

 That the Muslim Association of Canada had widened its holdings of real estate property which totalled $12 million in 2006 to over $51 million nine years later, it was the Canada Revenue Agency's position that these property holdings investments were of a non-charitable purpose, in direct contradiction to their claims. "There appears to be a significant difference between what the MAC represents it stands for and the activities that it appears to conduct." To substantiate the CRA's observation of links to the Muslim Brotherhood, it pointed out that members of the Brotherhood on coming to Canada, become members of the Muslim Association of Canada

 

The ISGAP report concludes by calling for a number of policy changes; greater oversight of academic partnerships with foreign entities at universities, among them. Along with greater transparency for foreign funding to universities, and granting additional review powers for government agencies toward non-profits and charities. A universal unfamiliarity with the geopolitical aims of these foreign entities such as the Muslim Brotherhood invariably leads to a lack of critical sovereign awareness.

 

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney poses for a photo at the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) Eid Festival in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, June 6, 2025.  Arab Weekly

  

"Recent Islamist terror attacks in Ottawa and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu remind us of the mounting terrorist threats facing Canadians. But evidence gathered by Point de Bascule indicates that the main danger facing Canada may go beyond the violent jihadist threat — and be made worse — by a little-discussed associated phenomenon, the penetration of our institutions by Islamists."

"There are two consequences to this penetration. First, it reduces Canada's ability to respond to the violent Islamist threat, and second, it leads to the gradual introduction of sharia rules in Canada."

"By penetration, I refer to the presence of Islamists and their sympathizers within a range of institutions from political and government organizations to NGOs and corporate entities. Those involved could themselves range from non-violent fundamentalists attempting, whether clandestinely or otherwise, to sway policy from the inside, to those that are violently inclined."

"Particular concerns have been raised about sabotage risks that could be posed by penetration of security or emergency services, no small worry when one considers what the Muslim Brotherhood revealed in a document produced for evidentiary purposes in the most important anti-terrorism trial in the U.S. in 2008.

This is an excerpt from what is described as an internalization memorandum of the Muslim Brotherhood, and it comes from their own memorandum: "The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers."

Marc Lebuis, founding director, independent research organization Point de Bascule, 2015 testimony at the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence  

"[The Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood] support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm their own regions, United States citizens, and United States interests.

"The military wing of the Lebanese chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood joined Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian factions to launch multiple rocket attacks against both civilian and military targets within Israel."

U.S. government 2025 terrorism designation for the Muslim Brotherhood  

 

Islamophobia Reigns!

"For decades, organizations affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is also an adherent, have managed to embed themselves at all levels of Canadian Society."

"[The Muslim Brotherhood that has declared] jihad against the Jews [established a vast network of charities and fundraising across Canada]."

Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP)

 

"This report is a wake-up call for all Canadians."

"[The federal government should] designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and] immediately freeze public funding to suspect organizations."

"Our report exposes how federal agencies have become complicit in sustaining and legitimizing networks that promote antisemitic and anti-Israel ideologies under the guise of charity and social welfare."

"These entities are exploiting the very values of tolerance and pluralism that Canada holds dear, weaponizing public institutions against Jewish communities and undermining Canadian democracy itself."

ISGAP board adviser Dr. Charles Asher Small 

Haras Rafiq, left, a director at Secure Canada, is with the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy speaks at an event in Toronto. Photo by Rob Roberts/National Post

 

"We stand on Guard for Thee? The Growing Influence of the Muslim Brotherhood on Politics, Academia, and Civil Society in America", published this week by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy on whose board of directors sits Canada's former justice minister Irwin Cotler. The report sounds a long-overdue warning of the prominent presence in Canada of an organization established in Egypt almost a century ago. The Muslim Brotherhood's primary focus is the establishment of an Islamic caliphate. Antisemitic conspiracies is an integral feature of their ideology.  

 

Tellingly, while the Muslim Brotherhood has experienced no measure of suspicion by the Western governments they have inveigled their way into, establishing themselves as a respected group speaking for Islam and the welfare of Muslims in the global umma, they are recognized as a terrorist group and outlawed in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. That enlightened view in recognition of what the Brotherhood represents is not shared by Western democracies, a puzzling lack of awareness.

 

Ignorance of the fact that Hamas is a Palestinian offshoot of the Brotherhood prevails. A Florida-based research group, the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, identified a number of Canadian charities with extensive links to the Muslim Brotherhood, pointing out their exploitation of Canadian law to enable them to raise funds for Muslim Brotherhood factions in the Middle East. Samidoun, based in Vancouver is one of them, recently declared a terrorist group by the federal government, but permitted to continue their Islamist agitation within Canada, along with fundraising.

 

NGO Monitor presents information about Samidoun in the European Union Parliament (March 2023)

 

The Muslim Association of Canada which boasts of being the "largest Muslim grassroots Canadian charitable organization", has been concerning in their influence in Canada on government and its agencies. A 2021 Canada Revenue Agency audit found "the concept of the Muslim Brotherhood appeared" in the charity's "governing documents". According to the Muslim Association of Canada, a "systematic Islamophobia" bias is in play, appealing the CRA audit that found sufficient grounds to revoke its charitable status, though it remains a registered charity on the federal government's database.

  

"This report is nothing more than recycled Islamophobic tropes dressed up as 'research' when in reality it's a biased, unsubstantiated hit piece that relies solely on discredited allegations -- allegations that were questioned by the Ontario Superior Court for their apparent bias and ultimately abandoned by the CRA in concluding its audit and reaching a resolution with MAC". Muslim Association of Canada rebuttal.

 

As it happens, the federal investigation revealed "most prominent members, directors and officials" of MAC were involved with either International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy (IRFAN-Canada) "or a network of charities that appear to have been used to propagate and fundraise for Hamas in Canada". Designated a terror entity in 2014, IRFAN-Canada transferred almost $15 million to Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group in Gaza. 

"I think all Western countries have come to an understanding that the Brotherhood is a problematic group and I think the findings of all other countries apply also to Canada."

"The Brotherhood has an ability to push within Muslim communities narratives that are highly divisive, that are polarizing. It promotes values that are antithetical to those of Western constitutions when it comes to democracy, while it comes to women's rights, when it comes to gay rights, when it comes to freedom of religion, when it comes to antisemitism."

"[While the Islamist group itself] might not be directly engaged in terrorist activities, it promotes a narrative -- it mainstreams a narrative -- that lays the groundwork for jihadist groups to recruit. It creates this narrative of victimization: the narrative that Muslims are constantly under attack by the West with widespread Islamophobia."

Lorenzo Vidino, terror finance researcher, George Washington University Program on Extremism 

The leading Canadian Muslim advocacy group, the ISGAP report points out, the National Council of Canadian Muslims, has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, Originally known as the Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada (CAIR-CAN), it was an outgrowth of the U.S. CAIR group, "a self-described Muslim Brotherhood front organization".  

"This report does not serve Canadian interests. It amplifies foreign narratives designed to fuel Islamophobia and division within our society."

"Canadians should be concerned about foreign influence, particularly the foreign-funded industry of anti-Muslim hate that fuels reports like this."

"These authors should be ashamed of themselves for trafficking in Islamophobic tropes that endanger Canadian Muslims and undermine social cohesion."

Muslim Association of Canada 

Islamophobia is the trigger-word whose purpose is to invoke the non-Muslim conscience against bigotry against Muslims. It is the ultimate victimhood word, designed and designated to prick empathy for a beleaguered religious group. A group, in actual fact, that has made it a vital part of their purpose in life, faithful to the injunctions of the Koran, to vilify and reproach non-Muslims for their ungodly ways. To target Jews and kuffars as enemies of Islam.

 

It is the Muslim community following the example of the committed jihadists among them that have trafficked in antisemitism, harassing the Canadian Jewish population, excoriating and damning Israel, lauding the courage of Islamist terrorists as freedom fighters, suggesting that Jews deserved the rapine, torture, mass murder perpetrated on peaceful Israeli farming communities. And while vehemently and violently violating Canadian population cohesion by their divisive and unlawful actions, portraying themselves as victims. 

Protesters gather for the Sit-In for Gaza outside the Alberta Legislature on October 18, 2023 in Edmonton, Canada. (Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)