Local media is reporting that the Canadian branch of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) was represented at last week’s news conference in Ottawa denouncing what it called violence in the name of Islam. According to a Windsor Star report:
October 23, 2014 Representatives of major Canadian Muslim groups gathered Thursday to reiterate their denunciation of terrorism in the name of Islam at a news conference in Ottawa, even as fear of harassment and violence grows in the Muslim-Canadian community.
‘Our message to anyone who believes in violent extremist ideologies is that you have nothing to do with Islam,’ said Ihsaan Gardee, the executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims and one of several speakers at Thursday’s event. ‘You have nothing to do with the noble principles of our faith, which categorically condemn the taking of innocent life.’
Muslim associations across Canada were quick to issue statements of solidarity with their fellow citizens as events unfolded in Ottawa on Wednesday and the killer of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was identified as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a recent convert to Islam.
Speakers at the news conference expressed grief and extended condolences to the families affected by the attack, but they also hinted at the strains the event will likely put on Muslim-Canadian communities. A representative for the Canadian Council of Muslim Women spoke of living ‘under a microscope’ of suspicion since Sept. 11, 2001.
Read the rest here.
The GMBDW reported earlier this month that the Canadian national police had issued a statement saying they could not support a handbook on radicalization and terrorism co-produced by the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM).
The GMBDW reported in July 2013 that the Canadian Branch of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) had announced that it has renamed itself as the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) as well as having changed its logo. In August 2013, we reported on a Point de Bascule blog analysis documenting documenting the clear and unambiguous relationship between the the US and Canadian branches of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a relationship that was denied by CAIR-Canada. The Point de Bascule blog has also published a history of the legal battle between CAIR and ISNA to get the acronym CAIR as trade-mark in Canada.
The most important leader of CAIR-Canada has been Jamal Badawi, also a leader in many of the most important Global Muslim Brotherhood organizations including the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR Canada), the Fiqh Council of North America, the Muslim American Society (MAS), the European Council for Fatwa and Research and the International Union of Muslim Scholars. Documents released during the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial indicate that Dr. Badawi was (and probably still is) a member of the leadership structure of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.
For a profile on the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its ties to Hamas and the US Muslim Brotherhood, go here.