Canadian Armed Forces’ Celebration of Islamic Heritage Month

On Monday, October 4th the Department of National Defence is set to hold a celebration at its Ottawa headquarters to commemorate Islamic Heritage Month. The keynote speaker will be Imam Dr. Zijad Delic, executive director of the Canadian Islamic Congress, an organization well known for its radicalism.

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Immigration Minister Jason Kenney condemned the Canadian Islamic Congress in a speech in 2009 for its record of “expressing hateful sentiments” and denounced its then-president as someone “who notoriously said three years ago on live television that all Israelis over the age of 18 can legitimately be killed”. It was widely reported that the Canadian Islamic Congress gave its media excellence award to Mr Zafar Bangash, founder of the radical Canadian Islamic newspaper, Crescent International. It is reported that in the publication’s editorial it stated that “9/11 was a success” and “it would be desirable to see the spread of Iranian-type theocracy, worldwide”. The Director of the Evangelical Association, Dr. Rondo Thomas, states “Canada has lost over 150 soldiers in this war and I recently buried one of these heroes. When his mother heard the details of this coming Islamic celebration, she said she felt as if her son was killed all over again. “I spent nearly 10 years in the Canadian Armed Forces and I am horrified that our leaders would be so insensitive,” added Dr Thomas. Dr. Charles McVety, president, Institute of Canadian Values, went on to say that, “our soldiers are on active service abroad, yet someone has invited incursions into our National Defence headquarters by a senior representative of one of the most notoriously radical of Canadian Islamic organizations. This will shock the conscience of Canadians of good faith, dismay military families whose children have made the supreme sacrifice, and undermine the credibility and morale of our armed services in the eyes of allies and enemies alike. “Circumstances surrounding this failure raise questions about our defence headquarters’ internal security at a time when experts warn of the risk of infiltration of our security organizations,” said Dr McVety. “Was the Delic invitation facilitated by associates of the Canadian Islamic Congress or other radical Muslim elements operating from within National Defence headquarters itself? Something has gone wrong, and we ask fair-minded Canadians to call upon Prime Minister Stephen Harper to fully investigate this serious security failure.”