Canadian Islamic Congress

The Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) is a defunct Canadian Muslim non-profit organization. It was formally dissolved in late 2014 with its official Web site no longer active.

The group was founded by Prof Mohamed Elmasry of the University of Waterloo, a world expert in microchip design, with a 1994 meeting of Muslim leaders from across the country and it was formally incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1998.

In March 2006, the CIC issued a communique in which it condemned the government of Stephen Harper for "blindly following the lead of Washington and of the influential pro-Israel Jewish lobby in both countries."

The CIC called Canada's withdrawal of all aid and support to the Gaza Strip "a resounding slap in the face to Canadian values... It makes a mockery of our traditional stand as a nation concerned with peace and justice." The CIC also stated that in refusing to recognize the Hamas government elected in the Palestinian territories, "Prime Minister Harper and his government are saying loudly and clearly that Canada no longer cares about the plight of Palestine and Palestinians ... This is beyond hypocrisy; it is a shameful devaluation of Canada's international reputation for fair-minded, ethical and constructive diplomacy."

In January 2008, the Canadian Islamic Congress and the Canadian Arab Federation issued a media communique which stated "the Apartheid regime of the Jewish state escalated its genocidal crimes against the indigenous people of Palestine" and that "Palestinians continue to endure death, deprivation and destruction under more than 40 years of brutal Israeli occupation that has become an insidious and unremitting genocide." The communique concluded by stating that "The world can no longer afford to stand by and watch from the sidelines as an entire people slowly bleeds to death."

In 2008 the Canadian Islamic Congress and the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) launched an essay contest that "invites Canadian high school and university students (ages 17 through 27) to write an essay on the theme "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" and is part of activities commemorating the 60th anniversary of Al Nakba - the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homeland in 1947-48." Bnai Brith Canada, a Canadian Jewish Organization, criticized the contest, stating that it is a "blatant propagandistic initiative that distorts reality, delegitimizing the existence of the Jewish state in any shape or form. The national essay contest announced by these groups encouraging youth to write on "Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine", is based on the false assumption that the Jewish presence in the Jewish People's ancestral homeland is illegal" and that "This sham of a contest joins together Canadian-Arab groups, which purport to reflect mainstream positions, but which clearly hold extremist notions that deny Israel's right to exist."

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