Concordia cancels radical Islamist conference - Ryerson, McMaster & York host hate preachers

A conference featuring speakers with a history of anti-Semitic, anti-Gay hate speech set to take place at Concordia University this weekend has been cancelled by the campus Muslim Student Association (MSA). The Islamic Education and Research Academy’s (IERA) “Calling the World Back to Allah” conference was sponsored by the MSA and scheduled for Concordia on October 21. After conversations with representatives from the university’s administration, Concordia’s MSA withdrew its support and cancelled the event. The IREA website lists the Montreal event as still active but lists the location as TBA.

In reply to a letter of concern sent by FSWC President and CEO Avi Benlolo, Concordia’s President, Frederick Lowy, wrote “this event was cancelled on Friday, October 14th.  It goes without saying that Concordia University does not espouse or support the attitudes ascribed to the speakers slated for that event.”

IERA speakers have called for the death of homosexuals and referred to Jews and other non-Muslims as “filth” as well as calling Jews specifically “cursed.” They also support the stoning of women. Regrettably, despite the attention drawn to the nature of the IREA speakers, the MSAs at McMaster University in Hamilton has and Ryerson University in Toronto will host Hamza Andreas Tzortzis, who has suggested on his website that homosexuality should be made a crime. Yesterday York University’s MSA welcomed IERA speaker Yusuf Chambers who has endorsed hate preacher Zakir Naik’s pronouncement that homosexuality should be punishable by death. Naik was been banned from Canada more than a year ago for his fundamentalist views.

Sheraton Hotels cancelled the IERA event scheduled to take place in Toronto on October 23 after the nature of the hate speech of the speakers was publicized. The IERA Facebook site lists the new conference venue as the Canadian headquarters of the North American Islamic Society in Mississauga.