EXPOSED: Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups influenced Canadian elections, launched ‘Vote Palestine’ initiative: report

The nearly 200-page report, Assault on Democratic Values and Principles: How Islamist Entryism Weakens Civil Society and Higher Education in Canada, argues that the activity should not be viewed as a collection of unrelated organizations or incidents, but as part of a "structured transnational strategy" involving ideological entrenchment, institutional embedding, narrative control, political mobilization, and legal protection.

"Canada’s challenge is not simply the presence of individual extremist voices or isolated institutional weakness. The report maps how interconnected ideological networks acquire legitimacy, institutional access, public funding, political influence, and protection from scrutiny," ISGAP Executive Director Dr. Charles Asher Small said in announcing the report.

"Canadian democracy is built on openness, robust notions of citizenship, pluralism, civil liberties, and public trust," Small added. "These principles must not be exploited to shield foreign influence, ideological entryism, antisemitism, or efforts to weaken democratic accountability."

The report traces the strategy to the ideology of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, and later Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who ISGAP says developed a strategy for using participation in Western democratic, legal, educational, and civic institutions to establish long-term influence.

Among the documents examined is a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood "Explanatory Memorandum," which applied the group's strategy specifically to North America. According to the report, the document described the Brotherhood's work in the United States and Canada as a "Civilization-Jihadist Process" involving "eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers." The document advocated building organizations, expanding the movement's base, forming coalitions and using the Palestinian cause as a unifying issue.

ISGAP argues that elements of that strategy can now be seen inside Canadian politics. The report examines The Canadian Muslim Vote (TCMV) and the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council (CMPAC), which have concentrated political organizing in competitive federal ridings. ISGAP says the groups' activities include efforts to mobilize Muslim voters around Palestinian statehood, "anti-Palestinian racism" policies and government approaches to Islamophobia.

During Canada's 2025 federal election, according to the report, CMPAC, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, and Greater Toronto for Palestine registered as third parties, while a coordinated "Vote Palestine" campaign obtained endorsements from 344 candidates across four federal political parties.

ISGAP also examined influence within Canada's federal bureaucracy, including the Muslim Federal Employees Network, an internal advocacy organization founded in 2021 within the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's federal policing branch. The report says the network had approximately 70 members across federal departments and sought recognition of Muslims as a protected group under Canada's Employment Equity Act.

According to the report, the former Office of the Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia subsequently advocated on the network's behalf with senior federal officials, including deputy ministers, the Canada Revenue Agency, the Public Safety Minister, and the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

The report devotes significant attention to Canadian charities, particularly the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC).

ISGAP says a Canada Revenue Agency investigation raised concerns about MAC's relationship to the Muslim Brotherhood's global ideological and organizational network and its dealings with organizations linked to terrorism. The report cites CRA findings concerning a "working relationship" between MAC and IRFAN-Canada after IRFAN was designated a terrorist entity in Canada in 2014.

The CRA ultimately imposed a C$1.119 million penalty after determining that MAC had conferred more than C$1 million in undue benefits and gifts to non-qualified recipients, according to the report. MAC was allowed to retain its charitable status under a compliance agreement, and the organization has characterized the matters as "technical governance issues" while appealing the financial penalties.

ISGAP argues that the case illustrates a broader disconnect between regulatory scrutiny and government funding.

The report states that MAC received nearly C$31 million in public funds between 2018 and 2022, while Islamic Relief Canada received C$9.2 million, ISNA Canada received C$1.2 million, and the National Council of Canadian Muslims received C$394,508 in 2022 based on federal lobbying disclosures.

The report also documents a history of regulatory action involving organizations affiliated with ISNA Canada. A CRA audit found more than C$600,000 in donor contributions had been improperly used, with certain expenditures described as "unethical" and "tantamount to misappropriation of funds." The charitable status of three former ISNA Canada affiliates was subsequently revoked, including one that transferred more than C$280,000 to an organization the CRA identified as the charitable arm of Jamaat-e-Islami.

Universities represent another major focus of the investigation. ISGAP says Canada lacks a nationwide system comparable to Section 117 of the US Higher Education Act requiring disclosure of qualifying foreign gifts and contracts to universities. As a result, the report argues, foreign financial relationships and contractual provisions involving research, intellectual property, institutional information, and student data can remain largely hidden from public scrutiny.

Qatar is singled out as a particularly significant source of foreign funding and institutional relationships.

At the University of Waterloo, ISGAP identified more than C$3.8 million in Qatari state-linked research funding involving smart-grid systems, energy infrastructure, high-voltage insulation, and hydrocarbon-related environmental systems. After accounting for at least 35 Qatari government-sponsored students in engineering, computer science and other scientific fields, ISGAP estimates Qatar-linked investment connected to Waterloo exceeds C$10.5 million.

The report contrasts those continuing relationships with Waterloo's decision not to renew its research partnership with Israel's Technion following years of anti-Israel activism on campus. ISGAP describes that as an "asymmetry": Israeli academic partnerships were terminated under political pressure while Qatari-linked research and funding relationships continued without comparable scrutiny.

The report also examines the University of Toronto and Toronto Metropolitan University, describing an ecosystem in which foreign funding, student activism, faculty advocacy, and institutional decision-making overlap. ISGAP identifies additional Canadian relationships with Qatar involving the College of the North Atlantic, Dalhousie University and the University of Calgary, while warning that Canada's lack of disclosure requirements makes it difficult to determine the contractual terms behind such arrangements.

The report comes amid growing concern about antisemitism on Canadian campuses. It cites an August 2026 study published by Canadian Heritage finding that almost 96 percent of Jewish postsecondary students surveyed had experienced or witnessed at least one antisemitic incident during the previous year. A quarter of reported incidents occurred in classrooms or lecture halls, while 18 percent involved faculty members.