The Islamist Tariq Ramadan was described as “a man with a vision” / Archive.Today by a Government of Canada’s website. Affaires mondiales Canada (Global Affairs Canada in English) is the new name given to the Department of Foreign Affairs by the Trudeau government.
On January 25, 2016, the Montreal-based TVA network broadcast a report by Michel Jean at 6:00 PM to inform its viewers that the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs endorsed the Islamist Tariq Ramadan on its website. The Department was renamed Global Affairs Canada after Justin Trudeau’s Liberals took power.
Earlier on the 25, Minister Stéphane Dion told TVA that his department does not endorse Ramadan:
Stéphane Dion: “[Translation PdeB] It [his department’s website] must be re-examined from time to time. This [webpage] may have been posted there for too long. It does not represent the opinion of the Government of Canada.”
Stéphane Dion: “Ça doit être révisé de temps en temps. Ça, ça traine depuis peut-être trop longtemps. Ça n’a rien à voir avec l’opinion du gouvernement du Canada. ”
A few hours later, the praises for Tariq Ramadan had disappeared from Global Affairs Canada’s French and English websites. TVA gave the update during its 10:00 PM news bulletin on January 25.
The praises for Tariq Ramadan had originally been published in 2005, under a previous Liberal government. They remained unchanged during the Conservative years. It is very likely that civil servants who were favourable to the Islamist leader had taken the initiative to publish these praises.
In 2014, Point de Bascule published an article explaining why it was inopportune for an official Government of Canada’s website to endorse Ramadan.
Point de Bascule (November 17, 2014): Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs promotes Islamist Tariq Ramadan as “a man with a vision”
Here are some of the points that we brought up at the time:
MODERATE HASSAN TURABI – In a 1995 interview targeting a non-Muslim public which was published in L’islam, un autre nationalisme (Islam Another Nationalism), Tariq Ramadan presented Hassan Turabi as a “moderate” although Ramadan rejects the very notion of “moderate Muslim” when speaking to Muslim audiences, as evidenced by his 2011 Dallas speech. (video 3 – 02:36)
Hassan Turabi was the primary force behind the introduction of sharia in Sudan during the eighties and nineties. In an immigration case heard by a Canadian tribunal in 2000, Turabi’s Sudan was described as a “country of horrors [where] people are whipped in the name of Shari’a, terrorist bases are harboured and the Christians in the South are exterminated.” In this case, Turabi was also described as “the ideologue of the military regime in Sudan” and the leader of an “Islamist International”. (X [Re], 2000 CanLII 21343 [IRB])
In another case heard by Canada’s Federal Court, it is mentioned that “[Usama] Bin Laden and his entourage moved to Sudan in 1991 at the invitation of the Islamist leader, Hassan Turabi.” (Section 274 – Almrei (Re), 2009 FC 1263 CanLII)
While Hassan Turabi was attorney general of Sudan in 1985, Mahmoud Mohamed Taha, a Muslim theologian, was executed for apostasy by the State because he had openly advocated the reform of Islamic principles.
SHARIA IN CANADA – In a 2004 interview, Tariq Ramadan told Egypt Today that Islamists operating in Canada must use the Canadian legal framework (“one of the most open in the world,” Ramadan had highlighted) to subtly and gradually introduce rules of sharia in Canada. At the time, Tariq Ramadan strongly urged his supporters in Canada not to openly mention their commitment to sharia: “The term shariah in itself is laden with negative connotations in the Western mind,” said Ramadan. “There is no need to stress that. […] For the time being this is not how we want to be perceived,” he added.
JIHAD – In a speech given in Detroit in 2013, Tariq Ramadan defined jihad as “the way we implement sharia.” Ramadan’s formulation has the advantage of including violent and non-violent methods used by Islamists to reach their goal.
COLONIZATION OF THE U.S. – On July 27, 2011, in a speech given at a fundraiser organized by the Islamic Circle of North America in Dallas, Tariq Ramadan openly enjoined his supporters to colonize the United States of America “with our understanding of Islam, our principles.”
“WE [MUSLIMS] ARE NOT HERE TO BE ACCEPTED” – In a speech given on Day 1 of the Islamist RIS Convention in Toronto in December 2013, Tariq Ramadan clearly told his supporters that “We [Muslims] are not here to be accepted. We are here to change the society.” (Video TR 48:56 – Excerpt on PdeB)
CHARLIE HEBDO – After our 2014 article dedicated to Tariq Ramadan, we published another one in January 2015 to highlight that the organization Muslim Presence (led by Tariq Ramadan) had presented a justification for the use of violence against Charlie Hebdo on its French website. The article was pulled from the site after the terrorist attacks against Charlie Hebdo in January 2015, once Point de Bascule had highlighted its existence.
Further reading
Point de Bascule: FILE Tariq Ramadan
