OTTAWA — B’nai Brith Canada has submitted a formal pre-budget brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance calling for new investments to combat violent extremism and a legal fix to prevent listed terrorist organizations from retaining corporate status.
In its submission, delivered ahead of the federal government’s Fall 2025 budget process, B’nai Brith urged lawmakers to use the Budget Implementation Act to amend the law so that an entity designated as a terrorist under the Criminal Code automatically loses its corporate registration and related protections. The organization said the change is needed to prevent groups such as Samidoun from exploiting a gap that allowed them to continue operating as a non-profit corporation after being listed last year.
Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith Canada’s Director of Research and Advocacy, said the loophole is “astonishing” and called on Parliament to act. “It is astonishing that, in Canada, an organization does not automatically lose its corporate status when it is declared a terrorist entity,” Robertson said in the group’s release. “The Government must amend the law to prevent a similar scenario from bedeviling us in the future.”
B’nai Brith’s submission included several policy recommendations intended to strengthen national resilience to antisemitism and other forms of violent extremism. Key asks included increased funding for national security agencies, mandatory compliance with Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy for federal grant recipients, mandating existing antisemitism training for federal public servants, and a five-year education plan to teach young Canadians about contemporary antisemitism in line with the IHRA working definition.
The Finance Committee has already incorporated some of B’nai Brith’s recommendations into its pre-budget report. In December 2024, FINA recommended that federal funding programs be aligned with Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, language that B’nai Brith highlighted as a partial victory and an indicator that its proposals were gaining traction with legislators.
Samidoun was publicly listed by the Government of Canada as a terrorist entity in October 2024. Ottawa said that the designation aligned with coordinated action by partners, including the United States, which imposed sanctions citing Samidoun’s links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The listing triggers prohibitions on knowingly assisting or dealing with property belonging to a listed terrorist entity under the Criminal Code.
Advocates argue that listing alone does not eliminate all legal and administrative advantages groups can exploit. B’nai Brith’s submission notes that corporate registration and nonprofit status can confer legitimacy and the ability to enter into contracts, own property, and access banking services unless explicitly revoked. The group urged the federal government to close that gap through targeted legislative language in the coming Budget Implementation Act so the state can swiftly dissolve or revoke corporate status where terrorism designations are in effect.
For a pro-Israel and Jewish readership, the submission frames the issue as both a security question and a defence of community safety. B’nai Brith said Canada is facing unprecedented levels of antisemitism and that the federal budget must prioritize programs that prevent radicalization, protect institutions, and support victims. “The coming federal budget must allocate funds to programs that enable our Government to proactively combat hatred and extremism,” Robertson said.
Legal and civil society observers will watch how the government responds to FINA’s report and whether the Finance Minister adopts B’nai Brith’s proposal in the BIA. If enacted, the measure would create a statutory route to strip corporate status from listed entities and constrain their ability to function legally in Canada.
This article is based on verified information from B’nai Brith Canada, the Government of Canada Public Safety announcement on the listing of Samidoun, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance report, Public Safety Canada listings, and reporting by Reuters.