Orphans in the Storm

A Mississauga (ahem) charity will no longer be able to issue tax receipts under that designation and it's all because mean Tories have it in for Palestinian (ahem) orphans. From the Globe and Mail:

A Mississauga charity that works in the Palestinian territories has lost its licence to issue tax receipts.

The federal government’s decision to pull the status of the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy Canada (IRFAN-Canada) occurs after years of tax audits and legal battles – and after prominent Canadian conservatives, including Stockwell Day, began publicly alleging that the charity is tied to Hamas terrorists.

Records show the charity spent nearly $10-million in 2009, the year that a United Nations agency credited it for helping to build a school for Palestinian girls.

The federal government’s tax authority, the Canada Revenue Agency, announced it had delisted the charity in Friday’s Canada Gazette.

The CRA did not specify reasons, and a spokesman would not comment further. “I don’t have any information, you’ll have to contact us next week,” said Philippe Brideau.

The tax authority announced a year ago that it was temporarily suspending IRFAN-Canada’s status for bookkeeping offences.

A lawyer for the charity said its staff are “shocked and disappointed” but will persist.

Naseer Syed told The Globe in an e-mail that his client will appeal the decision because it looks after 4,000 “deserving and needy” orphans. “Although no longer a charity, IRFAN-Canada is still registered as a not-for-profit organization and will continue to provide humanitarian relief to those in need to the best of its ability,” his e-mail said.

There's an exceedingly fine line between humanitarian relief and humaniterrorism. But I'm sure a charity aimed solely at helping "afflicted and needy" orphans (4,000 of them, no less) knows how to distinguish one from the other.

Update: Pointe de Bascule has more, including the orphan outfit's ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.