Canada orders deportation of ex-employee of Hamas-linked aid group

globalnews.ca:

ruled the 45-year-old’s employment made her a “member” of IRFAN-Canada, which it said had engaged in terrorism.She has appealed the Jan. 12 decision to the Federal Court.Canadian authorities stripped IRFAN-Canada of its charity status in 2011 after federal auditors found it had sent $14.6 million to groups “associated with Hamas.”The Canada Revenue Agency also said videos found at the group’s office near Toronto glorified “martyrdom” and portrayed the Palestinian conflict as a religious war.In 2014, the government placed IRFAN-Canada on its list of terrorist entities for using its “status as a charitable organization to fund Hamas.”Before arriving in Toronto from Venezuela in 2016 and claiming refugee status, Sarassra worked part-time for IRFAN-Canada in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.Her role was to distribute money to children whose fathers had died.

Immigration officials alleged she was an “important part of IRFAN-Canada operations in Palestine.”As such, they argued, she was a member of a terrorist group. She said she was unaware IRFAN-Canada had been sanctioned for terrorism until she came to Canada.Following a hearing held in 2022, the Immigration and Refugee Board initially dismissed the Canada Border Services Agency’s case against Sarassra.But the government appealed, and the Immigration Appeal Division determined she was inadmissible as a “member of IRFAN-Canada by virtue of her employment with the organization.”“She held a position of trust given her responsibility of the distribution of money,” according to the decision.The ruling said that while Hamas was responsible for hundreds of terrorist attacks, it relied on “funding and support from sympathizers and charities around the world.”“Most of the funding for