National_Council_of_Canadian_Muslims
National Council of Canadian Muslims
Islamic organization based in Canada and the United States
The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) is a Canadian Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization.[1] NCCM was formerly known as the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN).[2][3]
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In 2014, the NCCM sued former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his spokesman Jason MacDonald for defamation for alleging that the organization had "documented ties" to Hamas, a designated terrorist group in Canada.[4] In February 2015, Jason MacDonald was questioned under oath in the defamation case and Stephen Harper claimed parliamentary privilege to avoid testifying.[5] That same month, MacDonald resigned as the Prime Minister's communications director.[6] In March 2017, in a publicly announced settlement of the libel lawsuit, MacDonald admitted that his statements regarding the NCCM were inaccurate.[7] The Government of Canada also issued a statement "disavowing MacDonald's suggestion that the council had terrorist ties."[7]
According to 2001 census, there were 579,640 Muslims in Canada, just under 2% of the population.[8] In 2021, the Canadian Muslim population was estimated to be 1.8 million or 4.9% of the population.[9]