(OTTAWA) Diversity and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussain says he wishes he had moved sooner to end the federal government’s ties to the Community Media Advocacy Center (CMAC) after a colleague from the Liberal caucus first raised concerns about the group this summer.
Posted yesterday at 9:06 pm.
The House of Commons Canadian Heritage Committee is investigating the organization’s funding agreement with the heritage department after it was revealed that its senior consultant posted a series of posts on Twitter about ‘Jewish white supremacists’.
After Laith Maroof’s publications came to light in August, the federal government suspended funding to the group overseeing the Anti-Apartheid Project.
Hussain told the committee on Friday that Liberal MP Anthony Housefather had raised concerns with him about the organization on July 19 or 20, and that his office had immediately asked the Department of Heritage to review the project’s funding details and update them on next steps.
Tory MP Melissa Lantman told the committee the decision to end funding was made more than a month after Mr Housefather informed Mr Hussain’s office of “Mr Maroof’s despicable anti-Semitism”.
Mr Hussen insisted he act immediately, but the process took time.
Hussain said that he was confident that the funds were sanctioned before he became a minister and proper scrutiny was done, but now he promises to strengthen the project funding process.
Mr Marouf’s Twitter account is private, but a screenshot posted online shows several tweets with his photo and name.
One message reads, “You know, those loud shit-filled voices or Jewish white supremacists; When we liberate Palestine and have to go back to where they came from, they will again be the whispers of their Christian/secular white supremacist masters. »
This summer, Mr. Maroof’s lawyer asked his client’s tweets to be quoted “verbatim” and Mr. Marouf’s appeal is to distinguish between “Jewish white supremacists” and Jews or the Jewish people in general.
Mr. Marouf “has no animosity toward the Jewish faith as a collective group,” lawyer Stephen Ellis said in an August email to The Canadian Press.
“Although not the smartest of words, the tweets reflect frustration with Israeli apartheid and the reality that the Canadian government is complicit with it,” Ellis added.
In August, Hussain withdrew $133,000 in heritage department funding from CMAC, calling the Twitter posts “reprehensible and despicable”. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is launching a comprehensive government review of CMAC funding.
But when asked why his office did not act sooner, Hussain said Friday that he wanted to consult with the Justice Department and follow the proper process to cut funding and cancel the anti-corruption project.
“We obviously have a lot less information than today (in July),” he added, but did not respond when pressed to explain what he did not know about concerns raised by Mr Housefather.
New conditions will be added to all federal funding contracts to require the government to take action if an organization or individual is found to have “promoted or shared any form of hatred, racism, anti-Semitism or discrimination,” Mr. Hussain told the committee. .
Any organization whose funding is disrupted will never be eligible for future funding contracts.
Mr Hussain told the committee there would be an anti-racism strategy informed, renewed and reformed by communities, including those “directly attacked by Mr Maroof”.
