A group that lost its federal charitable status over alleged ties to Hamas is no longer sponsoring an Islamic conference in Toronto at which Liberal leadership hopeful Justin Trudeau is expected to speak.
On Saturday, the Reviving the Islamic Spirit (RIS) conference posted a release on its website, saying that its organizers had accepted IRFAN-Canada’s unconditional withdrawal as a secondary sponsor of the annual gathering, the largest of its kind in Canada.
“The material evidence used by Revenue Canada against IRFAN are matters best left to the relevant legal bodies to be resolved,” said Fouzan Khan, a founder and director of RIS, in the release. “It is extremely unfortunate that this issue has threatened to detract from the many accomplishments of RIS in the last ten years.”
Mr. Trudeau was criticized last week for his decision to speak at the event, especially by members of the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre and the Muslim Canadian Congress, who felt Mr. Trudeau’s presence at a conference sponsored by an organization allegedly linked to Hamas ran counter to liberal values.
A spokesperson for RIS confirmed on Sunday that event organizers believed it would be best if IRFAN-Canada was removed as an event sponsor considering the amount of negative attention the conference had drawn over the last week, and that the final decision to do so was made mutually between the two parties.
But Farhia Ahmed, the event’s director of media and public relations, also said IRFAN would not have been permitted to remain a sponsor had it asked to.
“RIS is aware that IRFAN denies any wrongdoing and has been in the process of challenging the revocation of its status,” read the release.
According to documents received last week from the Canada Revenue Agency, IRFAN has been described by federal charities regulators as “an integral part of an international fundraising effort to support Hamas.”
Mr. Trudeau defended his decision to participate in the conference in a Dec. 12 appearance on CBC News, saying RIS is “an opportunity to speak to 20,000 Muslim Canadians about this extraordinary society based on values of openness, of respect that we’ve managed to build here in Canada.”
IRFAN did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday.