In December, Blacklock’s Reporter alleged that the office of Canada’s Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia, Amira Elghawaby, had misused public funds to support pro-Palestinian research. Here we dig in to understand what really happened.
While the federal government announced in early February it was closing down Elghawaby’s office, as well as the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, setting the record straight remains important as unverified allegations continue to fly around.
What are the allegations?
Blacklock’s Reporter published an article stating that Elghawaby’s office secretly paid $80,000 in public money for a report published by the Islamophobia Research Hub at York University titled Documenting the Palestine Exception in the Aftermath of October 7, 2023. Blacklock’s said it obtained this information through a freedom of information request. Holly Doan, publisher of Blacklock’s, posted on Dec. 17 on X:
“Asked by Blacklock’s whether researchers were govt-funded, Elghawaby’s office denied any payment: ‘It has never made a donation to the Islamophobia Research Hub at York U.’ Access to Info records disclose payment of $80K. Public office holders should not lie to reporters.”
Doan’s implication here is clearly that the Office made a donation to the Research Hub. But government agencies do not in general make donations, rather they enter into funding agreements.
According to reports and the Media Co-op’s research, Elghawaby’s office did not even commission the Documenting the Palestine Exception report, although the report acknowledges that it “benefited from information provided by the Office of the Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia.” Instead, Elghawaby’s office, which operates within the Department of Canadian Heritage, facilitated and commissioned a different, specific research project, titled “Economic Integration of Muslims in Canada,” which was also conducted by the Islamophobia Research Hub at York University. This was not a donation, but was part of a typical government funding agreement.
Funding this kind of work was in line with the Office’s mandate to produce data and insights to help track the impact of Islamophobia on daily life and to inform policy changes.
Nevertheless, the allegations of misuse of public funds by Elghawaby were widely amplified online by a number of right-wing media outlets and advocacy organizations, including by the pro-Israel media advocacy group Honest Reporting Canada.
The controversy escalated to a degree that Culture and Languages Minister Mark Miller publicly condemned the allegations in a Dec. 22 tweet, calling the rumours “disgraceful and entirely unacceptable.”
Neither Honest Reporting Canada nor Blacklock’s responded to requests for comment for this article.
Attacks on Elghawaby part of a wider pattern
The episode followed a series of high-profile attacks on Elghawaby since she was appointed to the role by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2023 . Shortly after her appointment, some Quebec nationalists, such as Premier François Legault, called for her resignation after La Presse resurfaced her 2019 Ottawa Citizen column criticizing widespread Islamophobia within Quebec society.
La Presse also resurfaced a 2021 post Elghawaby made on X, writing “I'm going to puke” in reaction to a Globe and Mail op-ed arguing that French Canadians were the biggest victims of British colonialism.
More recently, she drew the ire of pro-Israel commentators with a February 2024 tweet condemning antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinian racism amidst Israel's war on Gaza. In August 2025, some Jewish advocacy organizations criticized Elghawaby for statements which they perceived as “downplaying” rising antisemitism.
Muslim community reaction to the allegations
Imam Sikander Ziad Hashmi, the executive director of the Canadian Council of Imams, who resides in Ottawa, said the controversy kicked up by Blacklock’s should be understood as part of an entire network of online actors and who routinely target Muslim public figures.
“If they want to talk about misuse of funds, we should also be asking who is financing these campaigns,” he says. However, Hashmi is careful not to make sweeping generalizations of Canadian society, distinguishing between what he described as widespread ignorance and a smaller, organized group that actively seeks to “spread hate and mistrust towards Muslims”.
Taha Ghayyur, a Toronto-based Muslim human rights advocate, writer and vice president of Sound Vision Foundation, echoed similar concerns. While he said he was not familiar with the precise claims made by Blacklock’s, he connects it to a wider pattern of defaming those who combat Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism. He questions the credibility of groups amplifying the allegations, including pro-Israel media watchdog Honest Reporting Canada. He questions Honest Reportings’ credibility, as he himself has been targeted by the organization for his advocacy work.
While stressing the importance of due process, Ghayyur asked why research examining discrimination and Islamophobia is routinely treated as suspect. He believes the attacks on Elghawaby to be a direct attack on Canadian Muslims’ reputation. Many in the Muslim community believe that Elghawaby was specifically targeted due to her high-profile position within the Canadian government.
“She's going to be attacked over and over again by vicious people who really want her removed,” he said shortly before her office was shut down.