ROBSON: Toronto’s October 7 conference exposes Canada’s counterterrorism failure

Toronto is scheduled to host a conference this November built around the glorification of the Hamas-led October 7 terrorist massacre, in which nearly 1,200 people were murdered, and more than 200 were taken hostage.Masar Badil, the organizer, calls the attack “one of the most courageous acts of resistance in our lifetimes” and a “glorious feat.” Its own conference announcement says “armed resistance” is the means by which Israel should be confronted and invites an “assembly of militants” for “relationship-building” and political organization.Those words remove any ambiguity about the nature of the event. A movement celebrating a terrorist massacre is preparing to use Canada’s largest city to consolidate a transnational network that US authorities have now placed directly inside their counterterrorism framework.Canada already knows this networkOn August 26, the US Treasury sanctioned Masar Badil, saying it “operates as a front” for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and is also a front for Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. Treasury said the two share fundraising mechanisms, senior leaders, and executive committee members.Both links matter directly to Canada. The PFLP has been a Canadian-listed terrorist entity since 2003. Ottawa listed Samidoun in October 2024, saying it had close links to the PFLP and advanced its interests. FINTRAC later described Samidoun as a “sham charity” serving as an international fundraiser for the PFLP, with at least 20 chapters across 12 countries, while promoting anti-Israel hate speech, violence, and terrorist propaganda..The warning signs were visible long before Toronto. Samidoun international coordinator Charlotte Kates was documented glorifying Hamas and October 7, followed weeks later by a Vancouver rally where participants declared “We are Hezbollah and we are Hamas” and burned Canadian flags. After Samidoun was finally listed, it still continued operating as a recognized non-profit while Ottawa explored options to formally dissolve it.That is designation without disruption.The network was built in Canada.Masar Badil’s Canadian footprint predates October 7. In April 2023, it held its first North American conference in Ottawa. Its own Ottawa declaration said nearly 100 people representing 25 organizations participated and that the gathering formally launched its branch in the US and Canada. The declaration reaffirmed support for armed struggle and explicitly rejected Canadian, American, and European terrorist listings.George Washington University’s Program on Extremism now describes Masar Badil as an organizer and facilitator for a broader ecosystem of affiliated organizations. Its August research found substantial overlap with US-sanctioned organizations and individuals through leadership, coordinated messaging, and calls for support..It identifies Samidoun as Masar Badil’s closest partner and a “fundamental pillar” of the movement. Masar Badil platforms have also hosted senior Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthi officials.This is the structural weakness Ottawa has failed to confront. Canada lists organizations as entities, while the networks around them operate as ecosystems. A name can be prohibited, while shared leaders, fundraising channels, affiliated groups, and organizational infrastructure continue around the designation.Canadian law reaches beyond a nameSection 83.05 of the Criminal Code allows Ottawa to list an entity not only when it participates in or facilitates terrorist activity but when it knowingly acts on behalf of, at the direction of, or in association with such an entity. The law already recognizes the network problem now presented by Masar Badil.Public Safety should immediately begin the process of listing Masar Badil. RCMP, CSIS, and FINTRAC should examine the Toronto conference’s organizers, financing, service providers, and links to listed entities. Section 34 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act provides grounds to bar foreign nationals engaged in terrorism or belonging to organizations reasonably believed to engage in it. Those powers should be applied before extremist organizers reach Toronto.The Combatting Hate Act, in force since July 18, also strengthened the Criminal Code against hate-motivated offences, intimidation around community institutions, and the wilful promotion of hatred through symbols principally associated with listed terrorist entities..The security environment makes inaction indefensible. Statistics Canada recorded 788 police-reported hate crimes targeting Jews in 2025, more than 70% of all religion-motivated hate crimes nationwide. Toronto Police reported that anti-Jewish occurrences accounted for 82% of religion-motivated hate crimes in the city in 2025. The service also handled more than 375 Middle East-related demonstrations that year, resulting in 84 arrests and 186 criminal charges.Ottawa made its own standard clear after October 7. Public Safety declared that “there will never be any place” in Canada for the glorification of violence or terror. Toronto is now the test of whether those words have operational meaning.Canada should not provide a venue for a US-sanctioned front to glorify a Hamas terrorist massacre, consolidate its network, and build the next layer of an ecosystem tied to Canadian-listed terrorist entities.Public Safety should move on the listing, security agencies should scrutinize the network, immigration authorities should bar inadmissible foreign participants, and every lawful tool should be used to prevent the Toronto gathering from proceeding.Counterterrorism fails when government acts only after a network has reorganized. Canada saw that failure with Samidoun. It should not repeat it with Masar Badil.Daniel Robson is an independent Canadian journalist specializing in extremism, organized crime, and public-safety policy.

ROBSON: Toronto’s October 7 conference exposes Canada’s counterterrorism failure

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