Networks linked to the Muslim Brotherhood: institutional expansion raises concerns in Canada
The expanding influence of networks linked to the Muslim Brotherhood in Canada is prompting new warnings following the publication of a report documenting their activities within state institutions, politics and civil society.
The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) states that Canada has become an unusually permissive environment for networks aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood seeking to establish long-term influence within government, civil society and universities.
The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy is an independent international research institute focused on the academic study of antisemitism, extremist ideologies, foreign influence and forces shaping democratic societies and institutions.
The institute produces research, educational programs and policy analysis aimed at academics, government officials, civil society leaders and the broader public.
Muslim Brotherhood penetration in Canada
Its new report is entitled “An Assault on Democratic Values and Principles: How Islamist Penetration Undermines Civil Society and Higher Education in Canada.”
The report argues that the activities of actors aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood in Canada should not be viewed as a series of separate organizations or isolated incidents. Instead, it describes them as part of a broader transnational strategy involving institutional penetration, political mobilization, influence over public discourse and legal protection.
The report builds on previous research conducted by the institute into the Muslim Brotherhood’s strategy of penetration in Western societies, including the United States.
It examines the Canadian case as part of a broader model whose manifestations the institute says it has documented across North America and Europe.
Charles Asher Small, the institute’s executive director, says the challenge facing Canada is not limited to isolated extremist voices or individual institutional vulnerabilities.
He adds that the report demonstrates “how interconnected ideological networks acquire legitimacy, institutional access, public funding, political influence, and protection from scrutiny and accountability.”
In this regard, Small notes that Canadian democracy is based on openness, well-established concepts of citizenship, pluralism, civil liberties and public trust. He warns, however, against exploiting these principles to conceal foreign influence, ideological penetration, antisemitism or efforts aimed at weakening democratic accountability.
He called for a coordinated response based on transparency, institutional due diligence, national security awareness and enforcement of relevant laws.
Four main areas of concern
The institute identifies four principal areas of concern in its report.
In this area, it traces the development of ideas from the writings of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna through Sayyid Qutb and Yusuf al-Qaradawi. It argues that participation in Western political, legal, civil and educational institutions has been developed as a means of gradually acquiring ideological and institutional influence.
The report refers to key planning documents, including the “Project” and the 1991 “Explanatory Memorandum,” which describe long-term expansion through social, political, educational and financial structures.
Jean-Pierre Filiu, a political science professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, previously said that the internal document drafted by the Muslim Brotherhood in 1991, entitled “The Brotherhood’s Civilizational Jihadist Project,” was “a genuine roadmap for penetrating Western societies through institutions, and it is now being implemented in Canada.”
Filiu, a specialist in Islamist movements, added that “what we are seeing today is the direct implementation of that vision, which seeks to undermine democracies from within through a policy of soft penetration and strategic duality.”
He also noted that “the Muslim Brotherhood exploits Canada’s liberal climate of openness and the state’s limited vigilance toward ideological penetration to build networks of influence linking educational institutions, non-governmental organizations and religious centers.”
The report examines networks operating within or around federal institutions, including the Muslim Federal Employees Network, established within the federal policing branch of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as well as the activities of the former Office of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia.
It also analyzes organizations such as Muslim Canadian Voice and the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council, whose electoral activities have focused on dozens of competitive federal constituencies.
With regard to civil society, the report concludes that Canadian regulatory oversight has been intermittent, followed by coordinated legal, political, academic and media responses.
It highlights an investigation by the Canada Revenue Agency into the Muslim Association of Canada, for which the agency issued preliminary findings in 2021 before reaching a final decision in 2023.
Those proceedings raised concerns relating to foreign political activity, financial irregularities and organizational links.
The report also examines cases involving the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) in Canada. According to the report, regulatory investigations into financial irregularities and links to extremist networks resulted in compliance agreements or financial penalties rather than the loss of charitable status.
The report then turns to the higher education sector, arguing that a number of Canadian universities have become environments where foreign funding, academic legitimacy, student mobilization, faculty activism and institutional decision-making intersect.
Recommendations to the Canadian government
The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy called on the Canadian government to coordinate its approach to monitoring and countering the penetration of networks linked to the Muslim Brotherhood with the U.S. federal government.
It also recommended that Public Safety Canada and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service investigate Canada-linked branches and networks, beginning with the Lebanese, Egyptian, Jordanian and Sudanese branches that have previously been examined by the United States.
The recommendations also include formal coordination with U.S. authorities and the inclusion of relevant entities on Canadian lists when independent investigations establish pertinent findings.
The institute further recommends establishing a national foreign-funding disclosure system covering universities, charities, research bodies and civil society organizations. Such a system should include contractual provisions that influence curricula, research, intellectual property and access to data.
It also called for risk-based reviews of international academic partnerships, stronger national-security due-diligence procedures in research cooperation, and greater transparency regarding student organizations within universities and their foreign relationships.
Strengthening oversight
In this context, the institute urged stronger oversight of charitable and nonprofit institutions, stricter accreditation standards and clearer restrictions on the use of anti-discrimination frameworks in ways that obstruct legitimate scrutiny.
It also called for increased support for independent research into foreign influence, antisemitism, extremism and institutional resilience.
At the conclusion of its report, the institute called for a comprehensive regulatory review of the Canadian Islamic College, covering its governance, funding, curriculum, institutional relationships, activities and foreign relations.
A strategy of concealment
Researcher Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, a specialist in political Islam, argued that “from a sociological perspective, Canada represents an ideal environment for the penetration of the Brotherhood’s project because it is a multicultural country that relies on a non-confrontational integration discourse.”
Bergeaud-Blackler, a research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, explained that this enables the movement to employ what is known as “strategic camouflage,” namely “presenting an apparently moderate face while a radical agenda is pursued in the background.”
She noted that organizations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood in Canada have become adept at exploiting the legal and constitutional space protecting freedom of association and religion to establish institutions that function as religious and charitable fronts, but which in reality serve as funding and ideological-organizing hubs for a transcontinental Brotherhood network.
She warned: “We are witnessing a situation reminiscent of the organization’s experience in Europe, particularly in Germany and France, where they managed to build institutional empires without governments officially classifying them as threatening organizations.”
