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Toronto (January 14, 2025) – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) welcomes news of the cancellation of a controversial conference planned by an Islamist group notorious for antisemitic, extremist rhetoric.

Hizb ut Tahrir Canada, the Canadian branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir – an organization that advocates for the re-establishment of an Islamic caliphate governed by Sharia law – announced today on its website the cancellation of its conference planned for January 18, a decision it said, “was necessitated by circumstances that were beyond our reasonable control.”

This comes one week after Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, alongside CIJA and B’nai Brith Canada, appealed to the Canadian government to list the organization as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code due to its antisemitic, extremist and anti-Western ideology and glorification of terrorism. Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned in the UK, Germany and several other countries.

Yesterday, Minister of Public Safety David McGuinty and Associate Minister of Public Safety Rachel Bendayan issued a statement declaring they “unequivocally condemn” the group’s activities and called for the organizers to cancel the conference. They also stated, “Security and intelligence agencies are currently assessing Hizb ut-Tahrir for listing as a terrorist entity under Canadian law.”

“This is an important victory in the fight against extremism and hate in Canada,” said FSWC President and CEO Michael Levitt. “But it’s not enough. The Canadian government must take the necessary measures to list this organization as a terror group under Canadian law, ensuring that it will never again have the opportunity to propagate its vile, extremist ideology in our country.”

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