Organizers of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at (AMJ) Canada is refuting recent allegations about the 2024 annual three-day Jalsa Salana convention.
Those were made by residents and councillors during the Sept. 17 and Oct. 1 council meetings, ranged from traffic troubles to financial information, and came in response to AMJ’s application for a special event permit to once again hold the conference from July 4-6, 2025 at the Hadiqa Ahmad Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, 3078 Line 11 in Bradford.
Council has so far denied the application, despite a recommendation from Nick Warman, the town's manager of recreation and client services, to approve in principle the 2025 conference, conditional on all requirements being satisfied and permits issued.
On Thursday, members of AMJ spoke with BradfordToday in an effort set the record straight.
“We are hurt,” said Mian Rizwan, chief executive of the convention. “Don’t speak based on assumptions or stories.”
Rizwan doesn’t understand why councillors would raise issues without providing evidence and then vote against referring the matter back to staff, for whom he said AMJ would be happy to answer any questions.
“We’re not a community that wants to present hearsay, and we’re also not a community that is insensitive to the neighbours’ comfort,” Safwan Choudhry, director of media relations for AMJ said.
He emphasized the importance of verifying the accuracy of concerns and not relying on “exaggerated or embellished” claims that may have been stated to “create a reaction.”
“We really want to stick to the facts,” he said.
In response to a list of local vendors AMJ patronized for the convention read during the Sept. 17 meeting, Ward 4 Coun. Jospeh Giordano later said he was contacted by some who claimed “no money” was spent with them.
He declined to say who made the claims.
However, Choudhry confirmed on Thursday that all of the businesses named during the Sept. 17 meeting were patronized by the organization.
As Rizwan was only about 70 per cent of the way through a financial audit, he said final amounts and receipts could not yet be released, but had verified the list of 39 vendors and said the total spent on the convention had already come to more than $1.5 million.
When it comes to accusations of concrete and aggregate used on the property, Rizwan explained there was no concrete poured and the crushed stone was used to create a farm access road on the far east side of the property.
He noted AMJ obtained permits for all alterations and “have not moved a single stone” without the town’s knowledge and permission.
When it comes to traffic, Rizwan reiterated that the issues were less a result of the conference and had more to do with a collision on Highway 400, which is why traffic was such an issue on the third day.
He explained the event had room for 6,500 parked vehicles but peaked at about 4,200, largely thanks to the organization spending about $100,000 on 43 shuttle buses which made 120 total trips to bring more than 4,000 people to the event from various communities including Vaughan, Toronto, Brampton, Scarborough, Mississauga and others.
For those who chose to drive, the organization offered different routes to those coming from different communities, in an effort to avoid overcrowding any one route, and Rizwan explained that AMJ also spent about $43,000 to hire nine paid-duty police officers to help direct traffic.
In response to concerns over emergency vehicle mobility, Rizwan noted EMS were called to the convention three times this year with no noticeable delays.
Rizwan also said none of the concerns raised during the meetings had been brought to AMJ ahead of time, meaning they didn’t have time to look into the matters to provide proper responses.
According to Warman’s report, as part of their application, AMJ had already submitted a traffic management plan, a full site plan (including washrooms, parking, accessible parking, dimensions, placement of vendor’s structures, fire access and routes), and an emergency safety plan including first aid stations, security details and notification sent to EMS, fire, and police.
So far, Rizwan said no external agencies, including fire and police, have recommended AMJ make any changes for the 2025 convention, and the only change recommended by the town was to extend the noise exemption to the setup process ahead of the actual event.
AMJ are still hoping the matter can be dealt with through a staff report, so everyone can take comfort knowing the decision — even if it’s not to proceed — was made with all of the facts.
“We’ve been working with the administrative staff in Bradford for many, many years, and these are people of integrity, honesty, transparency and it’s been a true delight,” Choudhry said.
