In our recent article announcing CAIR-CAN’s decision to change its name to National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), we referred to former CAIR-CAN Chair Sheema Khan’s revealing affidavit presented in 2003 during a legal battle concerning the registration of the acronym CAIR as trade-mark in Canada. In her affidavit, Sheema Khan supported Washington-based / Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations’s claims and swore that it “has direct control” over CAIR-CAN’s activities in Canada.
At the time, Sheema Khan’s statement aimed at helping Washington-based CAIR get the trade-mark on its acronym from Canadian authorities. CAIR was then engaged in a legal battle with another Muslim Brotherhood outfit operating in Canada, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). ISNA was also trying to get the trade-mark CAIR for one of its own organizations, the Canadian Association for Islamic Relations.
Official Canadian documents bring more information about CAIR trade-mark legal battle
Two files available in a Canadian Intellectual Property Office’s database help better understand this legal battle. They contain information gathered by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) after Washington-based CAIR and ISNA made their initial applications for trade-mark. CIPO is a division of Industry Canada, which is itself a department of the Government of Canada.
It is rather rare that Muslim Brotherhood entities resort to non-Muslim authorities to settle their disputes so we thought it opportune to well document the sequence of events that led to ISNA losing the battle and to CAIR becoming the only one allowed to use its acronym in Canada.
On July 9, 1999, the Islamic Society of North America’s leadership was first to file an application for a trade-mark on the acronym CAIR for an organization called Canadian Association for Islamic Relations. Its application 1021840 can be accessed on the CIPO’s website (Archives Point de Bascule).
On October 10, 2002, Washington-based CAIR filed its own application for the trade-mark CAIR and objected to ISNA’s application on March 31, 2003. Details are available in CAIR’s file 1156979 on CIPO’s website (Archives Point de Bascule).
Let us stress that it was not some Canadian front organization that applied and later became registrant of the trade-mark CAIR in Canada but directly Washington-based CAIR. In both CIPO’s documents already mentioned (ISNA’s file 1021840 and CAIR’s file 1156979), its address is presented as follows:
453 New Jersey Avenue, South East
Washington, D.C. 20003
United States of America.
On January 26, 2004, ISNA retorted to CAIR and opposed its application for the trade-mark CAIR.
When ISNA’s leaders opposed Washington-based CAIR’s claim for the acronym CAIR, they did not openly mention their association with ISNA but rather used their Canadian Islamic Trust Foundation (CITF) to voice their opposition. CITF is officially identified as CAIR’s opponent in CAIR’s file available in CIPO’s database.
In a 2007 document archived by Toronto’s Jami Mosque, CITF described itself as “part of ISNA.” While the ISNA-CAIR legal battle was going on, CITF’s Secretary General Mohammad M. Ashraf was also ISNA’s Secretary General, CITF’s Vice-President Syed Imtiaz Ahmad was also ISNA’s Vice-President and CITF’s Board member Ghulam Nabi Chaudhary was on ISNA’s Board for two of those three years of conflict. At the time that these events took place, both CITF and ISNA were located at 2200 South Sheridan Way, Mississauga, Ontario L5J 2M4.
These are the circumstances in which Sheema Khan submitted her affidavit. Her reference to “Application Serial No. 1,021,840” at the top of her affidavit pertains to ISNA’s application that she and Washington-based CAIR were opposing.
According to her curriculum vitae posted on Linkedin, former CAIR-CAN Chair Sheema Khan worked for the Ottawa firm Smart & Biggar while this very firm represented CAIR’s interests in its trade-mark dispute with ISNA. According to Khan’s CV, from 2001 to 2005, she was “technical consultant and associate” at this Ottawa firm specialized in intellectual property.
On January 28, 2005 (according to CIPO’s CAIR file), ISNA’s leadership withdrew its opposition to Washington-based CAIR’s application for trade-mark and on March 10, 2005, Washington-based CAIR officially became the registrant of the trade-mark CAIR in Canada.
At the end of the process in 2005, Jamal (Gamal) Badawi and Khadija Haffajee, who were already on CAIR-CAN Board of Directors at least since 2004, joined ISNA’s Board in Canada for one year. It appears that the Muslim Brotherhood leadership in North America was trying to smooth things over between the two rival clans. Badawi’s role as a mediator makes perfect sense given his past involvement with numerous MB organizations in North America and his knowledge of their leaders.
Although the ISNA-linked Canadian Association for Islamic Relations still officially has an ‘active status’ with Industry Canada / CN 3329526 – BN 893097766RC0001 (Archives Point de Bascule), it does not seem that activities have been carried under its banner after it was forbidden from using the acronym CAIR to publicly identify itself. We only have been able to find articles referring to ISNA-linked Canadian Association for Islamic Relations in Canadian newspapers published between 1997 and 2002. The organization does not seem to have an active website. Its old one was last successfully crawled by Web Archive in 2005.
ISNA-linked CAIR Canada
http://web.archive.org/web/20050207135940/http://www.caircanada.org/
CAIR’s affiliate CAIR-CAN
http://web.archive.org/web/20130531120104/http://caircan.ca/
Timeline of the trade-mark legal battle between Washington-based CAIR and ISNA’s leadership over the use of the acronym CAIR in Canada
1994 – The Canadian Intellectual Property Office database has a note stating that Washington-based CAIR claimed that it used its acronym CAIR in Canada as early as 1994.
Canadian Intellectual Property Office / Application 1156979 (Archives Point de Bascule)
1996 – The Canadian Intellectual Property Office database has a note stating that ISNA-linked Canadian Association for Islamic Relations claimed that it used the acronym CAIR in Canada as early as 1996.
Canadian Intellectual Property Office / Application 1021840 (Archives Point de Bascule)
December 18, 1996 – Incorporation of ISNA-linked Canadian Association for Islamic Relations.
Industry Canada / File BN 893097766RC0001 (Archives Point de Bascule).
July 9, 1999 – ISNA’s leadership applied for a trade-mark on the acronym CAIR in Canada. The applicant is listed as CAIR Canada (Canadian Association for Islamic Relations). In the Government’s database, its address appears as follows:
2200 South Sheridan Way
Mississauga, Ontario L5J 2M4.
This is still the location of ISNA’s head office in Canada in 2013.
Canadian Intellectual Property Office / Application 1021840 (Archives Point de Bascule)
October 10, 2002 – Washington-based CAIR applied for a trade-mark on the acronym CAIR in Canada. The applicant (now registrant) is listed as CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations). In the Government’s database, its address appears as follows:
453 New Jersey Avenue, South East
Washington, D.C. 20003
United States of America.
Canadian Intellectual Property Office / Application 1156979 (Archives Point de Bascule)
March 31, 2003 – Washington-based CAIR opposed ISNA’s leadership application for the trade-mark CAIR.
Canadian Intellectual Property Office / Application 1021840 (Archives Point de Bascule)
Washington-based CAIR was represented by the Ottawa firm Smart & Biggar. According to her curriculum vitae posted on Linkedin, former CAIR-CAN Chair Sheema Khan, who was an important player in the ISNA-CAIR legal battle, was then working for the firm Smart & Biggar herself as “technical consultant and associate.” She worked there from 2001 to 2005.
January 26, 2004 – ISNA’s leadership opposed Washington-based CAIR’s application for the trade-mark CAIR. Washington-based CAIR’s opponents are identified as the Canadian Association for Islamic Relations (CAIR Canada) and the Canadian Islamic Trust Foundation (CITF). Both organizations belong to ISNA’s infrastructure and were located at its head office in Mississauga at the time.
ISNA’s leadership was represented by the Toronto firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon.
Canadian Intellectual Property Office / Application 1156979 (Archives Point de Bascule)
2003-2005 – When ISNA’s leaders opposed Washington-based CAIR’s claim to the acronym CAIR, they did not openly mention ISNA’s name in the process but rather used their Canadian Islamic Trust Foundation (CITF) to voice their opposition. Here is the list of members of ISNA and CITF boards of directors for the period 2003-2005 as they appear in the financial statements submitted by these organizations to the Canada Revenue Agency.
Canada Revenue Agency: CITF’s Board of Directors 2003 – 2004 – 2005
Canada Revenue Agency: ISNA’s Board of Directors 2003 – 2004 – 2005
January 28, 2005 – Mention of ISNA leadership’s withdrawal of its opposition to Washington-based CAIR’s application for trade-mark.
Canadian Intellectual Property Office / Application 1156979 (Archives Point de Bascule)
March 10, 2005 – The acronym CAIR was registered as a trade-mark belonging to Washington-based CAIR in Canada.
Canadian Intellectual Property Office / Application 1156979 (Archives Point de Bascule)
2005 – Jamal (Gamal) Badawi and Khadija Haffajee, who were already on CAIR-CAN Board of Directors at least since 2004, joined ISNA’s Board in Canada for one year in what appears to be an effort by the Muslim Brotherhood leadership in North America to smooth things over between the two rival clans.
ISNA-CAIR legal battle highlights Washington-based CAIR’s role in Canada as CAIR-CAN’s ‘parent organization’
When CAIR-CAN announced its name change to National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) on July 6, 2013, it also stated that “there was never any operating or funding relationship between CAIR.CAN and CAIR.” This statement is completely untrue and deceptive and we have written so in our recent article announcing CAIR-CAN’s name change.
In this previous article, we listed many events that demonstrate the close relationship between CAIR and CAIR-CAN.
Below is an updated version of this list of events demonstrating an “operating relationship” between CAIR-CAN / NCCM and Washington-based CAIR. Two new entries take into account Washington-based CAIR’s role in getting the trade-mark on its acronym in Canada.
December 29, 2000 – A CAIR-CAN press release issued in Washington provides the name of a US-based CAIR leader as contact to comment about a fire at a mosque in Canada. In this press release, CAIR-CAN is referred to as CAIR’s “office in Canada.”
August 31, 2001 – A US-based CAIR leader’s name is added as contact in a CAIR-CAN press release criticizing Canada-based National Post. In this press release, CAIR-CAN is referred to as “the Canadian office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.”
October 10, 2002 – Washington-based CAIR files a trade-mark application for an exclusive use of its acronym CAIR in Canada. The applicant (now registrant) is listed as CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations). In the Canadian Government’s database, CAIR’s address appears as follows:
453 New Jersey Avenue, South East
Washington, D.C. 20003
United States of America.
2003 – In a Journalist’s Guide to Islam conceived by CAIR-CAN (p. 15), Washington-based CAIR is described as “CAIR-CAN’s parent organization” (p. 14).
December 16, 2003 – CAIR-CAN Chair Sheema Khan swears in an affidavit supporting Washington-based CAIR in a legal trade-mark battle that it “has direct control” over CAIR-CAN’s activities in Canada.
March 10, 2005 – The acronym CAIR is registered as a trade-mark belonging to Washington-based CAIR in Canada. This came after a legal trade-mark battle between Washington-based CAIR and the Islamic Society of North America’s leadership operating in Canada.
August 14, 2007 – In a list of CAIR chapters, CAIR-CAN appears between CAIR-Ohio and CAIR-Central Pennsylvania.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), “CAIR-CAN’s parent organization” (p. 14) by CAIR-CAN’s own admission in 2003, was founded in 1994 by three leaders of the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP), a Hamas front in the United States at the time. IAP is listed in the annex of a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood’s internal memorandum enumerating the organizations associated with the Brotherhood in the United States. It is #22 on the list.
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is listed #1 on the same list and Jamal Badawi, the middleman between CAIR and ISNA in 2005, is identified as a key MB leader in North America in section 20 of the document.
This memorandum was seized by police and produced for evidentiary purposes in two Holy Land Foundation trials that took place in the U.S. in 2007 and 2008. These trials led to the convictions of all leaders accused of terrorism financing.
At point 4 of the memorandum, the goal pursued by IAP, ISNA and the other organizations belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood network in North America is described in no uncertain terms:
The Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood) must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions… It is a Muslim’s destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes.
Further reading
Jesse McLean (Toronto Star – July 25, 2013): Star Investigation: Federal audit raises concern that ISNA funded Pakistani terror organization (Also IPT Blog – GMBDW)
Jesse McLean (Toronto Star – January 20, 2011): Muslim charity ISNA squandered money for poor (Also IPT Blog – GMBDR)
Point de Bascule (July 18, 2013): National Council of Canadian Muslims: The new name chosen by CAIR-CAN helps cover its links with Washington-based / Hamas-linked CAIR
