"[1] It was formed in December 2001, in the wake of 9/11 by a group of Toronto area liberal and secular Muslims led by Tarek Fatah.
It has also been critical of Islamic fundamentalism and has urged the government to ban donations to Canadian religious institutions from abroad arguing that doing so will curb extremism.
[3] In 2007, the MCC came out against a Canadian Human Rights Commission complaint made by several youths associated with the Canadian Islamic Congress against Maclean's Magazine for publishing an allegedly Islamophobic column by Mark Steyn saying that "The reaction of the CIC has only given credence to his premise - that Muslims in the West cannot accept the values of individual freedom, a free press and the right to offend... How ironic and how unfortunate.
"[8] Spokesperson Farzana Hassan cited public safety issues, such as identity concealment, as well as gender equality, stating that wearing the burka and niqab is "a practice that marginalizes women.
"[8] In April 2008, the MCC criticized the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) for its stating a claim by the Canadian Islamic Congress that Maclean's magazine was publishing Islamophobic articles.
The MCC stated that "the OHRC has become the virtual organ of Canada’s Islamist organizations and that it has taken sides in the bitter struggle within Canada’s Muslim community where sharia-supporting Islamists are pitted against liberal and secular Muslims" and that "the OHRC decision had the finger prints of its pro-Islamist commissioners who have close association with the Canadian Islamic Congress.