A new report on Islamist networks in Canada argues that Muslim Brotherhood aligned organizations have built influence through charities, political advocacy, voter mobilization and relationships reaching into federal institutions.
The nearly 200 page report, released on August 24 by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, or ISGAP, describes a strategy it calls “entryism”: gaining access to established institutions and gradually building influence from within.
Its conclusions are contested. But some of the most significant evidence behind the report comes from Canadian tax authorities, financial records, election activity and government documents.
Millions from Qatar
Earlier ISGAP research documented millions of dollars flowing from Qatar Charity and Eid Charity to Islamic organizations and centers in Canada.
According to that research, the Muslim Association of Canada, known as MAC, received C$1.4 million from Qatar Charity in 2012. Canadian tax records also recorded approximately C$2.45 million from Qatar Charity in 2013 for land and a building connected to an Islamic center project in Ontario.
ISGAP also cited records indicating that Eid Charity funded seven Canadian Islamic centers with roughly US$2 million, while more than US$6.7 million in grants reportedly went to eight Canadian organizations between 2004 and 2019.
Both charities have faced international scrutiny and have been associated with the Union of Good, a network designated by the United States Treasury in 2008 over allegations that it was created by Hamas leadership to facilitate financial support for the terrorist organization.
Canada’s Tax Agency Investigated MAC
The Canada Revenue Agency opened an audit of MAC in 2015, eventually examining more than one million financial transactions and hundreds of thousands of emails.
A 2021 CRA fairness letter alleged that MAC pursued an unstated purpose involving the advancement of the Muslim Brotherhood organization and initially contemplated revoking its charitable status.
That did not happen.
According to ISGAP’s account of the CRA’s eventual decision, MAC remained noncompliant in several areas but retained its charitable status under a compliance agreement. A penalty exceeding C$1.1 million was imposed and has been disputed.
MAC strongly rejects ISGAP’s characterization, calling its report a “biased, unsubstantiated hit piece” containing “recycled Islamophobic tropes.” It maintains that preliminary concerns about Muslim Brotherhood connections were not part of the CRA’s final conclusion.
A 2023 Ontario Superior Court case involving MAC did not resolve the underlying allegations on their merits.
From Elections to the Federal Government
ISGAP argues that the bigger picture emerges when these organizations and their relationships are examined together.
The report highlights The Canadian Muslim Vote and the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council, which mobilized voters in dozens of competitive federal constituencies.
The Canadian Muslim Vote identified 73 swing ridings across six provinces. During the 2025 election campaign, candidates in 45 ridings were endorsed according to positions on issues including Gaza and Islamophobia.
Such voter mobilization is legal democratic advocacy. ISGAP’s concern centers instead on overlapping leadership and organizational relationships.
CMPAC executive director Khaled al Qazzaz, for example, previously served in the government of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, while several CMPAC board members have held leadership positions at MAC.
The report also examines the Muslim Federal Employees Network, established in 2021 within the federal policing branch of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
According to records cited by ISGAP, the former Office of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia advocated on MFEN’s behalf with senior government officials. ISGAP says those contacts extended to deputy ministers, the Canada Revenue Agency, the Public Safety Minister and the director of Canada’s security intelligence service.
The office was abolished after its head, Amira Elghawaby, resigned in February 2026.
The Strategy ISGAP Calls “Entryism”
ISGAP connects these developments through the concept of “entryism,” a political strategy historically associated particularly with Leon Trotsky’s French Turn in the 1930s.
The basic idea is simple: rather than building a separate political system, activists enter established institutions, develop influence and attempt to shape them from within.
ISGAP argues that a similar framework helps explain Muslim Brotherhood aligned activity in Canada.
That is the institute’s interpretation, not a finding by a Canadian court.
But the international context is significant. The Muslim Brotherhood has been banned or designated in countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. In January 2026, the United States designated its Egyptian and Jordanian branches as Specially Designated Global Terrorists and its Lebanese branch as both a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
Canada has not banned the Muslim Brotherhood.
The central question raised by the ISGAP report is therefore not whether every Muslim organization participating in Canadian public life belongs to the Brotherhood. The evidence does not establish anything that broad.
The question is whether organizations with ideological, historical or personnel connections to Brotherhood aligned networks have accumulated influence across Canadian institutions while benefiting from public funding and institutional legitimacy.
Foreign funding, a lengthy CRA investigation, political mobilization and access to senior government officials can each be viewed separately.
ISGAP’s warning is that Canadians should also look at what they reveal when viewed together.
