(Gatestone) Canadian taxpayers have unwittingly been funding terrorism for more than two decades, often through federally registered charities, many of which have since been banned in other countries and subsequently by Ottawa as well. The International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy, which has sent tens of millions of dollars in goods and services to the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, is one example. Another is the Islamic Society of North America’s Development Foundation, which was discovered to be funding the Pakistani Islamist movement Jamaat-e-Islami. A third was Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s “Jihad Fund,” which was operating in Canada through a charity registered as the World Islamic Call Society.
For the past three years, however, since the election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, there has been a shift in the way in which Canadian money is being funneled to terrorist groups. Whereas prior to 2015, the individuals responsible for terrorism-funding were not members of the government or parliament, current evidence suggests that acting politicians are involved in directing money down a path where the ultimate destination is a listed terrorist group.
