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Public Safety Minister David McGuinty: Canada’s security and intelligence agencies assessing whether to list Hizb Ut-Tahrir as a terrorist entity under Canadian law

Patrick Doyle, Reuters

Jan 14, 2025

Hizb ut Tahrir Canada, the Canadian branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir – a group listed as a terrorist entity in Britain – announced on Tuesday it is cancelling its 2025 Khilafah conference planned for this Saturday at an undisclosed location in Ontario.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-fundamentalist-islamic-conference-cancelled-as-intelligence-agencies/


A fundamentalist Islamist group has cancelled its plans to hold a conference on establishing a caliphate governed by Islamic religious law after concern was expressed by the Public Safety Minister and Jewish groups that it could stir up division and hate.

Hizb ut Tahrir Canada, the Canadian branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir – a group listed as a terrorist entity in Britain – announced on Tuesday it is cancelling its 2025 Khilafah conference planned for this Saturday at an undisclosed location in Ontario.

The decision followed the disclosure on Monday by Public Safety Minister David McGuinty that Canada’s security and intelligence agencies are assessing whether to list Hizb Ut-Tahrir as a terrorist entity under Canadian law.

The Islamist group has faced restrictions, including on public meetings, in many countries, including in Germany, Pakistan, India and Turkey, but not in Canada.

Mr. McGuinty and Rachel Bendayan, associate minister of public safety, issued a statement on Monday condemning the group’s activities and decision to hold a conference, calling on the organizers to cancel it.

“Hizb ut-Tahrir has a documented history of glorifying violence and promoting antisemitism and extremist ideology. Its celebration of attacks on innocent civilians, including October 7th, and its support for banned terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah are entirely contrary to Canadian values of peace, inclusion and respect for diversity,” the ministers’ statement said.

The decision to cancel the conference was welcomed on Tuesday by the Global Imams Council, an organization of Islamic scholars and faith leaders from a variety of Islamic sects and schools of thought, including the Sunni and Shia traditions.

Jewish groups, which last week expressed alarm at plans to hold the conference, also welcomed the decision to cancel it.

Michelle Stock, vice-president, Ontario, at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said it marked “important progress in keeping Canadians safe.”

“We will continue to urge the Government of Canada to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir as an illegal terrorist organization, as is the case in the U.K. and Germany,” she said.

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center’s president and CEO Michael Levitt, said it was “an important victory in the fight against extremism and hate in Canada,” but more must be done.

“The Canadian government must take the necessary measures to list this organization as a terror group under Canadian law, ensuring that it will never again have the opportunity to propagate its vile, extremist ideology in our country,” he added.

Jewish groups had called on the Public Safety Department to closely vet visiting speakers at the conference before they were allowed into Canada, fearing they could incite division and hatred.

Hizb ut Tahrir Canada said on a post on its website that cancelling the conference planned for Saturday “was necessitated by circumstances that were beyond our reasonable control.”

In a media statement online, Hizb ut Tahrir said it is “an ideological and political party that works exclusively through intellectual and political struggle” and is not linked to terrorism, extremism or violent activities.

“Its sole objective is the resumption of the Islamic way of life through the re-establishment of the Khilafah [caliphate] in the Muslim world on the method of the Prophethood, as obligated by the Quran and Sunnah,” it said. The group said it “categorically rejects the use of violence or material means in its methodology.”


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