The director of Vancouver-based Samidoun—which is listed as a terrorist entity by Canada and the United States—travelled to Beirut last month to attend the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah.
While this may have provoked outrage in some quarters, her visit does not seem to have provoked any legal consequences.
Charlotte Kates attended the Feb. 23 memorial for the Hezbollah leader assassinated in September during an Israeli airstrike in Beirut in September, posting on social media: “It is such an honour to be in here in Beirut today, one among a sea of over a million people in collective tribute, mourning, love and commitment to the road of resistance and liberation exemplified by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sayyed Hisham Safieddine.” Safieddine, set to take control over Hezbollah, was killed a week following Nasrallah.
Vancouver police had arrested Kates last May, a few days after a speech she delivered outside the Vancouver Art Gallery where she is alleged to have promoted and incited hatred according to police. “The speaker praised the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and referred to a number of terrorist organizations as heroes,” reads a VPS statement.
Kates was released with conditions, including a prohibition on attending protests, demonstrations or assemblies, and given a mandatory court appearance five months later. Those conditions expired and charges were not laid, the British Columbia Prosecution Service (BCPS) only telling The CJN that the matter “is still at charge assessment,” according to spokesperson Damienne Darby.
But since her arrest and release, while temporarily prohibited from attending gatherings, she was not prevented from visiting Iran, where she praised the Hamas attacks on Iranian television and said her arrest came “at the behest of Zionist organizations and political officials,” purportedly receiving an “Islamic Human Rights and Human Dignity Award” from the Islamic regime for her work.
Raising more eyebrows was her Beirut trip to attend Nasrallah’s funeral, particularly from Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who called for Samidoun’s listing as a terror entity in April 2024.
Housefather told The CJN that Kates was not the only Canadian at Nasrallah’s funeral. “As soon as I saw that she was there, I immediately alerted the Minister of Public Safety and his team to make sure they were also aware, and I can assure you that our intelligence services and police are aware of the fact she was there and what she tweeted out while there.” Housefather would not offer any further comment.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) is calling on the BCPS “to approve charges against Ms. Kates without any further delays.” Pacific Region vice-president Nico Slobinsky told The CJN, “Every day that charges are not laid only serves to embolden Ms. Kates’ dangerous agenda as she acts with increasing impunity, including travelling half-way around the world to pay tribute to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah at his funeral. This is not only a threat to the Jewish community’s safety, but also to the social cohesion of Canadian society and Canada’s national security.”
Established in Canada 2011 and registered as a not-for-profit corporation a decade later, Samidoun, along with Kates and her husband Khaled Barakat, became more familiar to Canadians a year after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist invasion of southern Israel and slaughter of 1200 people and kidnapping of 250 more.
Protests and demonstrations were staged throughout Canada, some in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, and others in support of the attacks that launched the war, with at least one event in Vancouver, where chants of “death to Canada, death to the U.S.A., and death to Israel” were heard, along with the torching of a Canadian flag and praise for both Hamas and Hezbollah. “Long live Oct. 7,” was a frequent, enthusiastic refrain.
The Canadian government joined its American counterpart to designate Samidoun—also known as the “Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network”—a terror entity in October 2024, a week after the Kates’ arrest conditions expired. Samidoun now meets the definition of a “terrorist group” under Canada’s Criminal Code and prohibits certain actions, including those related to terrorist financing, travel and recruitment. It is a criminal offence for anyone in Canada and Canadians abroad to knowingly deal with property owned or controlled by a terrorist group, according to Public Safety Canada.
The U.S. Treasury Department calls Samidoun, also a terror entity in Germany, “a sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization,” which was already listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department and in Canada. Kates’ husband Barakat is a Canadian citizen and PFLP leader says the Treasury Department, his fundraising and recruitment efforts supporting terrorist activity against Israel. “Together, Samidoun and Barakat play critical roles in external fundraising for the PFLP.”
In November, Kates’ Vancouver home was raided as part of the ongoing investigation, and an occupant was briefly detained.
Simply being a member of a terrorist organization is not a crime in Canada, nor apparently is it one to travel abroad to attend the funeral of a terrorist leader. Justice department spokesperson Ian McLeod told The CJN that while it is not an offence to be a member of a terrorist group in Canada, section 83 of theCriminal Code contains a number of terrorism-related offences. “The determination of whether specific conduct constitutes an offence is the responsibility of law enforcement and prosecutors.”
There is little indication whether Kates, an American who has publicly stated she is a Canadian, faces any citizenship jeopardy. The CJN asked Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) if she is a citizen, and if such travel and activities complicate or trigger further review of citizenship status. IRCC would not comment on Kates due to privacy laws, but spokesperson Julie Lafortune said the government is committed to procedural fairness, “and does not take the revocation of citizenship or the decision to remove someone from Canada lightly. The government recognizes that citizenship revocation may be necessary in cases of fraud, false representation or where the individual knowingly concealed material circumstances.”
Conservative senator Leo Housakos told Montreal English radio listeners on March 6 that Kates and her organization are “in large part responsible for some of the chaos we’ve seen in our streets, where they’re calling for death to the Jewish people. They’re calling ‘from the river to the sea’, the most antisemitic, the most anti-Israel organization in this country.” Samidoun has been banned in several countries an outraged Housakos told CJAD’s Elias Makos, and “somehow they’ve found a safe haven right here in Canada,” adding, “she decides to hop on a plane with her other cohorts in this country and go all the way to Beirut. And lo and behold, they participate in what effectively is a jihadist congress.” There are people in Canada “on a no-fly list for far less than this,” he said.
“I’m just trying to figure out why she’s not in handcuffs and in a jail cell.”
