Blaney grilled over Hamdani suspension

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Hamilton lawyer Hussein Hamdani says he still hasn’t been told by the federal government why he was suspended from his position as a member of the cross-cultural roundtable on national security.

Public safety minister Steven Blaney was making an announcement on national security this morning in Toronto. CHCH’s Lisa Hepfner was there and asked Blaney about the allegations against Hamdani.

CHCH: Can you explain why (Hamdani) was suspended from the cross-cultural round table on security? What allegations led you to believe that he was an extremist? He has been well-known in Hamilton for a long time. He is a founding member of the committee and he says he doesn’t know why he was evicted.
“I thank you for your question. What I can tell about this member is there is a review that is ongoing. The round table is there to provide advice on how to reach out to community. I also intend to keep on working with the cross-cultural round table but I have other ways to reach out to community and get input so that we can better build our policies.”

Why is there a review? What led to the review? What allegations are there?
“There has been an allegation that we feel is serious. We are currently reviewing those allegations.”

Are they recent allegations?
“I believe and I am confident that this review will be done in a fair manner.”

It was mentioned to Blaney that Hamdani believes that this was politically motivated; that he was seen at some Liberal fundraisers and believes that the Conservatives wanted anybody with Liberal ties off the federal round tables like that. The minister told me absolutely he had no idea he was even a Liberal until it was brought up today. He said it had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Hamdani has been part of Hamilton’s Media Advisory Council for the past few years, where he’s distinguished himself with his human rights advocacy. The suspension followed an investigation into allegations that Hamdani may have links to “radical ideology.”