Before Prime Minister Stephen Harper left for his recent Middle East trip, the National Council of Canadian Muslims sent the following letter to the PM’s office:
Letter from National Council of Canadian Muslims to Prime Minister Stephen Harper re: Rabbi Korobkin
When I learned of the letter, I contacted its author, NCCM executive director Ihsaan Gardee, for more information.
In the meantime, I also asked PMO Director of Communications Jason MacDonald what he thought of the NCCM’s letter. His response, e-mailed to me, was this:
The delegation accompanying the Prime Minister to the Middle East includes a range of stakeholders from various business, religious and community organizations. We will not take seriously criticism from an organization with documented ties to a terrorist organization such as Hamas.
I then asked the NCCM what they thought of the MacDonald’s characterization of their organization. Here is the complete e-mail from NCCM executive director Ihsaan Gardeen:
The statement made by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is absolutely false. Our legal counsel is of the view that this statement is defamatory and libelous and we will be taking this up with the PMO. Furthermore, the statement is below the dignity of the office of the Prime Minister in responding to legitimate concerns raised by Canadians and only serves to distract from the legitimate issues raised.
The net result of all this was this story: Muslim Group, PMO in War of Words over Rabbi’s Presence on PMO Trip
UPDATED: Here is the notice of libel the NCCM is serving on Harper and MacDonald.
Notice of Libel: National Council of Canadian Muslims v. Stephen Harper and Jason MacDonald
By way of further background, the NCCM also provided me with this press release from last November:
(Ottawa – November 21, 2013) The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), a prominent Muslim civil liberties & advocacy organization, today announced that it has settled a defamation claim against Janice Fiamengo, a professor at the University of Ottawa, regarding certain articles written by Ms. Fiamengo about the NCCM.
As part of the legal settlement, Ms. Fiamengo has issued a full public retraction and apology to the NCCM which states:
“I previously wrote two articles dated September 2nd and September 20th, 2013 respectively and published online at FreedomPress.ca which contained several factually incorrect and defamatory statements about the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), as follows:
1. Falsely stating that the NCCM is connected to and inspired by a foreign group called the Muslim Brotherhood.
2. Falsely stating and suggesting that the NCCM has beliefs in, allegiances to and is supportive of bigotry, extremism and terrorism.
3. Falsely stating and suggesting that the NCCM is an intolerant, anti-Semitic and fascist organization which supports the ideology of Nazism and the killing of Jewish people.
I retract the foregoing allegations without reservation, and I apologize to the NCCM and its board of directors, employees and volunteers for the harm caused by my statements.”
Commenting on the matter, NCCM Board Chairman Kashif A. Ahmed said:
“The NCCM is an independent and non-partisan grassroots Canadian organization which has consistently and categorically condemned racism, xenophobia, terrorism, and extremism. We are proud of our public record of effective advocacy for civic engagement and human rights and we stand by that record every day.”
The problem for Harper and MacDonald here is that, while there have been exhaustive attempts to link NCCM (and also its former incarnation as CAIR-Canada) to Hamas (as documented here, for example: http://pointdebasculecanada.ca/articles/10003291-harper-s-director-of-communications-sharper-s-director-of-communications-nccm-cair-can-%E2%80%9Cdocumented-ties-to-a-terrorist-organization-such-as-hamas%E2%80%9D.html) they haven’t been successful in doing so.
One can point at a couple of examples of persons involved with NCCM/CAIR-CAN who have said vaguely supportive things about some of Hamas’s activities, and a couple more where persons involved with NCCM/CAIR-CAN and Hamas both said nice things about a third party, but that is not a “link”. There is no meaningful sense in which any link has ever been established, and if Canada’s primary source of oogedy-boogedy Muslins-under-the-bed paranoia can’t find a link, I’m satisfied there isn’t one.
When the PMO’s Director of Communications deflects a call-out on including a pro Geller/Spencer member on the PM’s Israeli visit by echoing old claims of CAIR’s ties to Hamas, we’re in some trouble here. Is the PMO’s staff getting talking points and info from some of their counter parts to the south? Yikes. I hope NCCM wins this and also that Harper gets some more press for including someone who supports hatemongering in his entourage.
Considering that the PMO’s office has National Intelligence, and HAMAS is a Terrorist Organization, I would suppose that there is plenty of evidence that the organization is tied, not only by ideology, but also financially to HAMAS. If/when this goes to court, the PMO will shred this organization, and duly so. Personally, funding for this organization has been suspect for a very long time, and their attempts to deflect where they get their money from, and where they send their money to, will come to a head.
Revoke their charter, charge them with tangible support of terrorism, and deport their sorry head banging bollucks back to the hole in the ground they came from.
Strange how some women defend Islam. If they (an Islamist group) characterize themselves as a ‘defender of human rights’ wouldn’t they logically start with self criticism?
I don’t know this group. If they have been exceedingly vocal in denouncing endemic barbarism like, for example, misogyny, aggressive in supporting secularism– they could reasonably argue their ‘image’ has suffered. Otherwise, Islam defames itself worldwide every day and any group that identifies with it is reasonably suspect.
That is one of the more putrid comments I’ve seen anywhere in a good long time, Nabi. Clearly an abscess of hate that acute ought to receive medical attention – will likely need to be lanced, I’m sorry to say.
For now, I’d suggest you make an effort to inform yourself as to why the likes of Pamela Geller are held in utter contempt by every decent man or woman on the planet irrespective of religion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Islamization_of_America
Really? Wikipedia doesn’t like Pamela Geller? Feel the burn…
May I suggest, over and above anything that has happened by any Islamic splinter groups in the last 20 years, that you pick up a few history texts and acquaint yourself with how Islam has spread out of the Arabian peninsula over the past 1300 years. It hasn’t exactly been by a “love thy neighbour” approach.
It’s a pretty simple connect:
CAIR-CAN, which now goes as the NCCM is the Canadian branch of CAIR.
CAIR was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Terror trial, in which the defendants were convicted of providing funds to Hamas.
I wouldn’t be surprised if NCCM gets hit with court costs the way the terror-supporting Canadian Arab Federation did when they tried to sue Jason Kenney.
The PMO needs to be reined in. Hopefully losing this libel case will go some distance to achieving that goal.
PS: I’ m glad they included Dictator Harper in the suit, as well as Jason Macdonald. He hires these idiots & enables them in their actions.
Anybody have Ed Snowden’s cell or e-mail?
He’s probably got definitive proof one way or another.
I think the PMO’s comment has now positioned itself, where claiming ‘documented proof’, it needs to provide some documentation.
Of course it will not as this matter is before the courts.
I was shocked to read about the defamatory remarks made by the spokesperson for Stephen Harper about The National Council of Canadian Muslims.
I live in a distinctive region of Canada, Labrador, that is a lot more than a pantry for Newfoundland. Labrador has been described as one of the four corners of the world in the phrase, “From Ispahan to Labrador.” I would like to voice from here my outrage when hearing these slanderous remarks about one of Canada’s outstanding organizations. Harper’s entourage going from Canada to the Middle East did not represent Canada. It was obviously chosen as part of Harper’s political agenda, and certainly didn’t represent a country that professes itself to be the home of democracy and fair treatment of all groups that make up the Canadian mosaic. This is very sad. People are naïve to think that this country will just go on. The bigotry that is now openly being flaunted in Quebec could spread to the rest of the country, especially with a Prime Minister that doesn’t actively uphold Canadian values. I pray that the other political parties and more Canadians will speak out to defend our Muslim brothers. They contribute immeasurable to the value of this great country. I pray all Canadians will defend their honor. If the Prime Minister does not adequately apologize and make amends for what are obviously his own malicious views, I trust justice in the courts of Canada is still alive and rescue the National Council Of Canadian Muslims from this disgraceful treatment.
John Murphy
Nain,Labrador
Right. In what universe do folks routinely reference Iran’s third largest city when describing Labrador as one of the four corners of the Earth? (Methinks your Islamocentric tendencies are showing).
The NCCM website is still pointing at the old CAIR.CAN site for updates …. (We are in the process of building NCCM’s new interactive web site which will launch soon. For our past and latest news and announcements proceed to the old CAIR.CAN site) [direct cut and paste, brackets mine]. Apparently changing names has not therefore changed what is considered by the NCCM brain trust to be worthwhile thought or viewpoint, ergo Macdonald’s comment. Seems to be based on fact then.
Enough of the useless lawfare, and the abuse of our legal system.
It comes from a poem written, I believe, by Sir Walter Scott that goes: “Gifts there shall be, oh gifts galore. From Ispahan to Labrador.” Both Ispahan and Labrador are regarded as corners of the same world. I remembered this line because it was carved in wood above the fireplace in the library of my parents’ home. Little did I know that when I went to volunteer for a summer with the Grenfell Mission in Labrador, that fifty years later I would still be living here. If there can be gifts from Ispahan to Labrador, why can’t there be peace? I would rather be guilty of mistakenly giving someone the benefit of the doubt than contributing my bit more to the hate dividing our world.
So you give the benefit of the doubt to the NCCM but not to the Prime Minister? Fine, that is your right. Try not to confuse statements about the NCCM as being directed towards “our Muslim brothers”, though, because the statements were not directed to Muslims at large.
And be aware in slamming Harper’s “political agenda”, “malicious views” and “disgraceful treatment” of the NCCM and supporting the NCCM in their lawfare that you are, yourself, contributing to the divide. Again, that is your right; but please don’t pretend just to be a casual sideline observer.
The poem sounds intriguing, but I cannot find a trace of it anywhere on the web…any chance you can remember even a portion of a title?
You are making some important points. I recall the book, “No Safe Pace” by Warner Troyer. That was about mercury poisoning, but the title seems to apply here with understanding political issues and expressing views as well. I can see good intentions are not always enough. Can anyone take a position that is completely right? Is anyone above someone’s valid reproach?
I tried to find the poem on the web. The titles of the poems by Sir Walter Scott don’t seem to give a clue. Maybe it is in one of his longer poems. The line I mentioned was used in a newspaper article written in England in 1918:
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=CHP19181212.2.4
So it must have once been a rather well known poem at one time.