Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish has responded following revelations that an Islamic extremist group designated a terrorist entity across the world is set to host a conference in her city on January 18.
She vowed to "try to track down" the location of Hizb ut-Tahrir's Khilafah (Caliphate) Conference and let law enforcement know.
"Preaching hate of any kind is a federal criminal offence," Parrish wrote in a post on X after the Western Standard brought the existence of the event to light. "All we as a municipality can do is not rent our facilities to potential hate mongers, try to track down where the conference is being held and inform the police."
When pressed on what else she and her team would do, Parrish said there wasn't much in their jurisdiction.
"Love to remove all hate mongers from our peaceful and beautiful City but not a municipal government prerogative," she said. "That's up to a more senior level of government."
Hizb ut-Tahrir said the theme of the conference is "eliminating the obstacles that are delaying [the] return" of an Islamic caliphate.
"Is America really so powerful that our Ummah (community) can’t defeat it?" the group wrote in a post on Facebook. "There have been superpower states in the past too, like the Romans and the Persians; yet, they were defeated by the Ummah. Their great cities, like Constantinople, are now Muslim cities."
The post went on to claim that, "the Ummah at those times had the Support of Allah," asking, "what must the Ummah do to get Allah's Support once again? What steps do we need to take to become victorious against today’s Colonialist superpowers?"
"We'll answer these questions at our upcoming Khilafah Conference," it concluded. "Learn what it will take for our Ummah to overcome America, Europe, Russia, China, and others from the position we're in today. If you want to help create real change in our Ummah, then get this critical knowledge by attending, inshaAllah."
Hizb ut-Tahrir was founded in East Jerusalem in 1953 by Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani to advocate for a global Islamic caliphate that operates under Sharia Law. It has been banned in all Arab countries except Lebanon, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as most of Central Asia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Russia, China, Turkey, Germany, and the UK.
The latter's home secretary deemed it "an antisemitic organization that actively promotes and encourages terrorism, including praising and celebrating the appalling 7 October attacks."
The location of the conference has not been revealed, though prospective attendees were told they'd find out after registering via Eventbrite.
