Canada listed Samidoun, a pro-Palestinian group behind a march in which people chanted “Death to Canada” and burned the Canadian flag in Vancouver earlier this month, as a terrorist entity.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc made the announcement on Tuesday, noting that the designation was made in conjunction with the US Treasury Department’s decision to list the group as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity.
“Violent extremism and acts of terrorism or terrorist financing have no place in Canadian society or abroad,” LeBlanc said in a statement.
“The Samidoun group is listed as a terrorist entity under the Penal Code Criminal law It sends a strong message that Canada will not tolerate this type of activity, and will do everything in its power to confront the continuing threat to Canadian national security and all people in Canada.
Samidoun was previously listed as a terrorist entity by Germany and the Netherlands, and in a statement issued by Public Safety Canada, the group said the group has “close ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and works to advance its interests.”
This group is also listed as a terrorist entity by Canada, the United States and the European Union.
Being a designated terrorist entity Serious consequences. It is illegal to contribute to any activity of a listed group, and its property can be seized and confiscated.
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The list comes just over a week after MPs in the House of Commons condemned the group after its supporters chanted “Death to Canada, Death to the United States and Death to Israel” and burned the Canadian flag at a rally in Vancouver.
The masked speaker at that rally, who uttered the chant into the microphone, also told the crowd: “We are Hezbollah and we are Hamas.”
Both Hamas and Hezbollah are listed as terrorist entities.
During the interrogation period last Tuesday, the governors called on the federal government to list Samidoun as a terrorist organization.
“These violent and horrific protests and mob actions were instigated by Samidoun, and this organization is a front for an already banned terrorist group,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said last week.
Vancouver police say they are also investigating the pro-Palestinian rally at which chants were chanted and a flag was burned, with law enforcement saying speakers expressed “solidarity with terrorist groups.”
The police had previously conducted an investigation with Samidoun, after its director, Charlotte Kates, was arrested last year in a hate crime investigation. She was released from custody on her own recognizance, but the hearing she was scheduled to attend was canceled, and her court-ordered conditions were cancelled.
—WWith a file from Sean Boynton, Simon Little and Romina Daya of Global News and The Canadian Press
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