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On June 15, CPO organized a public education program, “Why Faith-Based Crime Prevention Matters,” with a panel of two Christians and one Muslim. No Jewish representation, even though Jews, one third as numerous as Muslims in Canada, are eight times more likely to be targets of faith-related hate than Muslims.

The Muslim panelist was Imam Zijad Delic, a poor choice. Delic’s scheduled 2010 appearance at the Department of National Defence for an Islamic-related event was cancelled by the Harper government owing to his Islamist affiliations. As national helmsman of the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), Delic oversaw a 2007 Montreal speaking invitation to Taliban apologist Yvonne Ridley (I was there; she boasted of her collaboration with Hezbollah). Delic also provided leadership to the CIC’s shariah lobby, as well as supporting the Organization of Islamic Conference’s speech-chilling “blasphemy” initiative to criminalize criticism of Islam.

In the CPO’s first mass mailing Nov 10 regarding their second event last Friday, “Addressing Hate Crimes: Creating a Safe City for All,” there was no Jewish representation noted, only black, LGBT and Muslim, the latter in the person of Amira Elghawaby, communications director of NCCM/CAIR.CAN. I use both her organization’s old and new acronyms together to remind readers that the National Council of Canadian Muslims is a 2013 cosmetic name change only from their previous handle, CAIR.CAN. Court documents identified CAIR.CAN as the Canadian chapter of the U.S. Islamist organization CAIR, the latter linked by the FBI to the Muslim Brotherhood-created Hamas support network in the U.S., and still considered unsuitable by them as “an appropriate liaison partner” for any government outreach. To the confusion of some specialists and despite this history, NCCM/CAIR.CAN now insists that it has “no strong and/or continuing link to CAIR.”