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 Imam Dr. Zijad Delic, the national executive director of the Canadian Islamic Congress. (Errol McGihon, QMI Agency file photo) |
OTTAWA - Defence Minister Peter MacKay has vetoed the speech from a controversial Islamic group because of its "extremist views."
Imam Dr. Zijad Delic, the national executive director of the Canadian Islamic Congress, was to speak at an internal event at Department of National Defence headquarters Monday.
A spokesman for MacKay said when the minister learned of the CIC's participation in the Islamic Heritage Month event, he pulled the plug "based on extremist views promulgated by the Canadian Islamic Congress."
"The Canadian Islamic Congress has declared that Israelis over the age of 18 are legitimate targets of suicide bombers," wrote Jay Paxton, MacKay's director of communications, in an e-mail. "These types of comments don't support Islamic Heritage, they simply divide Canadians, promulgate hate and they have no place in Monday's celebrations."
Without Delic's speech, Monday's event will focus on the "evolution of Islam" in the Canadian Forces, Paxton said, and the "positive contribution" of Canada's muslim community to Canadian society.
Delic reporedly called the cancellation, "hurtful."
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Charles McVety, who heads up the right-wing Institute of Canadian Values, issued a statement Friday saying Delic's invitation to speak is an insult to the Canadian Forces soldiers who have died in Afghanistan.
"This will shock the conscience of Canadians of good faith, dismay military families whose children have made the supreme sacrifice, and undermine the credibility and morale of our armed services in the eyes of allies and enemies alike," McVety said in the statement on the association's website.
bryn.weese@sunmedia.ca