Dokument #1315565
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
For information on the Canadian Middle East
Information Centre (CMEIC), please consult the attached letter
faxed to the DIRB on 18 February 1997.
The following information was provided
during a 28 January 1997 telephone interview with the Toronto
representative of CMEIC.
The source stated that among CMEIC's
activities are assisting the Muslim community of the Toronto region
to set up Islamic schools and selling Arabic literature. The source
added that CMEIC distributes two Islamic newspapers:
al-Zahitouna and Muslim World Monitor. These two
publications are downloaded from the Islamic Association for
Palestine (IAP) Internet home page. A subscription is required in
order to download these publications.
The following information was provided
during a 19 February 1997 telephone interview with a professor of
political science at the University of Calgary. The source has an
academic interest in Islamic groups in Canada.
The source stated that the Islamic
Association for Palestine is ideologically close to fundamentalist
groups such as Hamas. The source is not aware of any organizational
or administrative links between the Islamic Association for
Palestine and radical groups such as Hamas, but did not exclude the
possibility of individual relationships between members of IAP and
such organizations.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
Canadian Middle East Information Centre
(CMEIC), Toronto. 28 January 1997. Telephone interview with Toronto
representative.
Professor of political science,
University of Calgary, Alberta. 19 February 1997. Telephone
interview.
Attachment
Canadian Middle East Information Centre
(CMEIC), Montréal, Québec. n.d.. Letter faxed to the
DIRB on 18 February 1997.
Additional Sources Consulted
5 oral sources did not have information
on this subject.