Some time ago, I attended a closed-door meeting with foreign intelligence officials to discuss the growing influence in Canada of the Muslim Brotherhood, the powerful transnational Islamist movement that is the ideological root of all modern Islamic terrorism.
The Brotherhood’s objective, I was told, is two-fold: to achieve a paralyzing effect on the ability of Canadian policymakers to act against it; and to steadily expand its influence in Canada. Indeed, the Gaza war has mobilized and emboldened the Islamist group’s “white-collar jihadists” in the country to advance its strategy of “civilizational jihad” — gradual institutional transformation, rather than violent overthrow.
The officials also revealed that their analysis of internal Hamas documents — the Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood — showed that the terrorist group views Canada as vital to its plans. “They love you guys,” one of them quipped. Last year, a Global News investigation revealed that roughly 450 individuals with various roles inside Hamas have ties to Canada.
In another private briefing in Washington, D.C., a senior U.S. national security official made it clear that the Americans are also acutely aware of Canada’s growing Muslim Brotherhood problem.
The message was unambiguous: the United States government views the Muslim Brotherhood as a transnational threat, and it is deeply concerned that Canada’s immigration policies are severely undermining broader North American counter-terrorism priorities (a recent C.D. Howe Institute report, which found that 24,599 asylum claimants were accepted by Canada without being asked a single question between January 2019 and February 2023, was cited).
Referencing the terror designations imposed on Muslim Brotherhood chapters in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Sudan, the official also categorically stated that Brotherhood-aligned entities and individuals in Canada should not assume they are beyond the reach of sanctions or terrorist designations — an assertion that was ratified by the Trump administration in its recently released “Counterterrorism Strategy.”
“Given the Muslim Brotherhood’s key role in promoting modern terrorism, we will continue to designate its branches across the Middle East and beyond as (foreign terrorist organizations) to crush the organization everywhere it operates,” reads the strategy.
Across Europe, governments are increasingly recognizing the Brotherhood as a serious political and security challenge. France released a government report describing the group as a “threat to the nation,” with lawmakers urging the European Union to classify the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
Dutch legislators have called for a ban on the group. Sweden has launched an investigation into alleged Islamist infiltration, while Belgian officials are raising alarms about the alleged Brotherhood-linked capture of some municipalities.
Like Europe, the U.S. sees Canada as both a terror target and an incubator of terrorist threats. It considers it unacceptable that its northern neighbour serves as a logistical, financial and recruitment hub for Islamist groups. However, Canada, unlike Europe, appears determined to avoid the conversation altogether, despite CSIS warning in its latest public report that the threat is “particularly concerning.”
