Is Canada's Government Funding Terrorism? - Tom Quiggin

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by Tom Quiggin

Canadian taxpayers have unwittingly been funding terrorism for more than two decades

• "Members of Parliament of the Government of Canada are using their official positions to channel taxpayers' money to Islamic Relief Canada (IRC). The IRC is a federally registered charity, so the taxpayer is subsidizing this activity. IRC in turn is sending millions of dollars to Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW). Seven independent and reliable sources have gone on the public record and stated that IRW uses charitable funds to provide material support to terrorism. In most cases, this means Hamas, an organization which is listed as a terrorist entity by the Government of Canada." — From of a letter sent to Brenda Lucki, Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
• Funding terrorism is a criminal act according the Criminal Code of Canada.
• It is imperative that the RCMP look into this matter of national and international security, and that the Trudeau government be held accountable.

Canadian taxpayers have unwittingly been funding terrorism for more than two decades, often through federally registered charities, many of which have since been banned in other countries and subsequently by Ottawa as well. The International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy, which has sent tens of millions of dollars in goods and services to the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, is one example. Another is the Islamic Society of North America's Development Foundation, which was discovered to be funding the Pakistani Islamist movement Jamaat-e-Islami. A third was Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi's "Jihad Fund," which was operating in Canada through a charity registered as the World Islamic Call Society.

For the past three years, however, since the election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, there has been a shift in the way in which Canadian money is being funneled to terrorist groups. Whereas prior to 2015, the individuals responsible for terrorism-funding were not members of the government or parliament, current evidence suggests that acting politicians are involved in directing money down a path where the ultimate destination is a listed terrorist group. The money is being funneled through a variety of government organizations and programs, including the International Humanitarian Aid Program (2017), M103 Islamophobia Funding (2018), Canada Summer Jobs Program (2017 and 2018), Myanmar Crisis Relief Fund/Islamic Relief (May 2018), Canadian Humanitarian Assistance Fund (CHAF), Canada's Humanitarian and Development Assistance to Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, and Prime Minister Trudeau's volunteer work and promotional video for Islamic Relief Canada.

Since, if true, this would be a violation of Section 83.18 and Section 83.03 of the Criminal Code of Canada -- and an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is required to determine the legality of the government of Canada funding a known Islamist front group -- I sent a letter to Brenda Lucki, Commissioner of the RCMP, demanding a criminal investigation into Trudeau, Minister of Global Affairs Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen, Minister for International Development Marie Claude Bibeau, Parliamentary Secretary for Global Affairs Omar Alghabra, and MP for Mississauga-Erin Mills Iqra Khalid.

The October 9 letter -- co-signed by Tahir Gora of the Canadian Thinkers Forum and TAG-TV, Raheel Raza and Sohail Raza of Muslims Facing Tomorrow and Benjamin Dichter -- reads as follows:

Dear Commissioner Lucki,
This is a formal statement of complaint and I am willing to testify in court to the material contained in this report. The first twenty pages of this document contains the complaint itself and the direct relevant information. The remainder of the document contains supporting, explanatory or supplementary information.
The complaint is that Members of Parliament of the Government of Canada are using their official positions to channel taxpayers' money to Islamic Relief Canada (IRC). The IRC is a federally registered charity, so the taxpayer is subsidizing this activity. IRC in turn is sending millions of dollars to Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW). Seven independent and reliable sources have gone on the public record and stated that IRW uses charitable funds to provide material support to terrorism. In most cases, this means Hamas, an organization which is listed as a terrorist entity by the Government of Canada.
Funding terrorism is a criminal act according the Criminal Code of Canada.
I am a court expert in terrorism in both the Federal and criminal courts. I have spent years working in the military and intelligence communities, including several years spent at the RCMP (A-INSET). I was working for the RCMP in a national security intelligence role during the Momin Khawaja investigation when I was first qualified as a court expert. At other times, I have worked for the Canadian Armed Forces, the Privy Council Office (Intelligence Assessment Secretariat) and I have been a Senior Fellow at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Military service overseas involved time spent in Croatia and Bosnia during the Yugoslav War.
As you will note, all the sources of information here are public...

Included in the source material we presented to Commissioner Lucki is the following list of those countries raising concerns about terrorism-funding:

• In 2014 the United Arab Emirates produced a list of organizations they deemed to be terrorist entities. Among those was Islamic Relief Worldwide and Islamic Relief UK.
• In 2017, Bangladesh banned three organizations, including Islamic Relief. The decision to ban them is seen as a "preventative measure against potential radicalization in the camps."
• In 2014, Israel banned Islamic Relief from operating in the West Bank, accusing Islamic Relief Worldwide of being a source of funding for the Palestinian Hamas Islamist movement.
• In 2015, the HSBC Bank of the United Kingdom ended its banking links with Islamic Relief, citing fears the aid could wind up with terrorist groups. This became public in 2016 when the Times of London published an article titled "Terror fear makes HSBC cut ties to Muslim charity."
• In 2012, the UBS Bank cut its ties with Islamic Relief due to concerns about counter-terrorist regulations.
• In 2014, the UK Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) removed Islamic Relief from its donation page, although it states is has some 400 other Islamic charities that it supports in some 50 Islamic countries.
• The Financial Post of Canada had listed Islamic Relief Canada on their "charities of the year" list but removed it in 2014, stating that IRC was pulled "since its international arm has been banned elsewhere (though not in Canada) for allegedly funneling funds to the terrorist organization Hamas."

It is imperative that the RCMP look into this matter of national and international security, and that the Trudeau government be held accountable.

Tom Quiggin is a former military intelligence officer, a former intelligence contractor for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and a court appointed expert on jihadist terrorism in both the Federal and criminal courts of Canada. He is the author of SUBMISSION: The Danger of Political Islam to Canada – With a Warning to America, written with co-authors Tahir Gora, Saied Shoaaib, Jonathon Cotler, and Rick Gill with a foreword by Raheel Raza. He is also the primary contributor to the QUIGGIN REPORT podcast.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13137/canada-funding-terrorism

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