The Canadian Revenue Agency has announced that it has suspended the charity known as the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy-Canada (IRFAN/Canada-Canada) for one year for failure to comply with regulatory requirements. According to the announcement:
Ottawa, Ontario, April 13, 2010… The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has issued a Notice of Suspension to the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy-Canada (IRFAN/Canada-Canada), a registered charity under the Income Tax Act (ITA), stating that it has been suspended for one year beginning on April 13, 2010. The notice stated in part that:
“…it remains our view that IRFAN/Canada-Canada has:
* failed to maintain books and records in Canada in accordance with subsection 230(2) of the ITA,
* failed to provide books and records for audit and examination in accordance with subsection 231.1(1) of the ITA, and
* failed to comply with a requirement to provide documents or information in accordance with subsection 231.2(1) of the ITA.”
A charity that has been suspended has no authority to issue donation receipts for income tax purposes for gifts it may receive during its suspension. Also, during the suspension, the charity is deemed not to be a qualified donee, prohibiting other registered charities from making gifts to it during that period.
IRFAN/Canada is located in Mississauga, a Toronto suburb that is also home to the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) in Canada, a part of the US/North American Muslim Brotherhood. The IRFAN/Canada web site describes itself as follows:
The International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy (IRFAN/Canada-Canada) is an international relief and humanitarian, nonprofit, charitable organization, registered in Canada since 1998 and is actively involved in the alleviation of human suffering. We are a federally incorporated Not-For-Profit, Charitable Organization (Charity Registration Number 885408849RR0001) that was established to cope with the greater demands of the needy in the world. Our relief reaches countries such as Palestine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq, Algeria, Guyana, Sudan, Pakistan, South Asia, Niger, Albania, Algeria, Bosnia, Jordan, Sierra Leone and Canada.
However, in November 2004 a report of the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, close to Israeli military intelligence, described IRFAN/Canada as part of the worldwide Hamas fundraising network:
IRFAN/Canada (International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy, formerly the Jerusalem Fund for Human Services (Referred to as The Jerusalem Fund) a Hamas front organization operating in Canada. It enlists contributions and transfers the funds to Hamas’ civilian infrastructure ( da’wah ) in the Palestinian Authority (PA)-administered territories. The infrastructure, financed by the donations from Canada and other countries, helps Hamas establish itself as an alternative to the PA and to maintain its terrorism-supporting apparatus. Even during the era of an international battle against terrorism-funding money, and despite the fact that the Canadian government designated the Jerusalem Fund as Hamas-affiliated, it continues its activities uninterrupted under its new name, IRFAN/Canada.
Before changing its name from the Jerusalem Fund to IRFAN, the organization was one of the original members if the Union of Good, a coalition of Islamic charities that provides financial support to both the Hamas “social” infrastructure, as well as its terrorist activities and headed by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi.
In May 2007, IRFAN/Canada was named by US prosecutors as part of the Global HAMAS financing mechanism in the Holy Land Terrorism terrorism financing trial.