Bradford City Council meeting on Sep.17, 2024 vs. Ahmadiyya firqa in Canada

Intro
Check out my video on this herein. Also checkout the meeting on 10-1-24 and 11-5-24.

On Sep-17, 2024, the Bradford City Council had a meeting to discuss, amongst other things, the 2025 application by the Ahmadiyya Movement to hold their annual Jalsa Salana at Hadiqa Ahmad in Bradford, Canada. The Bradford City Council voted against the approval of the permit and thus the Ahmadiyya Jalsa Canada 2025 must be held somewhere else. Only Ward 1 Coun. Cheraldean Duhaney, Ward 2 Coun. Jonathan Scott, Deputy Mayor Raj Sandhu and Mayor James Leduc voted in favour of the 2025 event, in contrast to the unanimous support provided last year for the 2024 event. Farhan Khokhar (Na’ib Amīr)(Vice President) was there too, he famously said at the 1:42:00 time stamp, “we put Bradford on the map”.

During the course of the meeting, several residents showed up and voiced their concerns. I have posted all of their comments in the below.

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Angel Jacks testimony
41:35 time stamp
She was also speaking on behalf of her father, Dennis Yaca

1. She said that the Ahmadiyya Movement permanently affixed tents with anchors at their location, which is against the law in Bradford and on that property. She explained that this was against the zoning.

2. She said this was marketed as a “Private Event”, thus, the locals in Bradford weren’t even able to attend.

3. She said that Ahmadi’s were speeding all over town, she almost got hit by an Ahmadi driver, traffic and noise were ridiculous.

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Mara Aran’s testimony
47:30 time stamp

1. She said that if there was a medical emergency with residents of Bradford, it would have been impossible for them to make it to a hospital during peak traffic. The traffic was chaotic, irresponsible and insane. The venue was the most inappropriate location. Residents were paralyzed, incredibly unfair to residents. This event is cited as annual, at what point does it become monthly?

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Testimony by Earl Golasky
50:34 Time stamp

He didn’t elaborate.

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Kimberly Neeshaw
She lives across the street
52:00 timestamp

She said that there was too much dust, Ahmadi’s wandered onto her property, traffic was too much, she asked for road passes, since the traffic is too much for her and her family. She also mentioned how the signs were incorrect.

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Farhan Khokar, Vice President of the Ahmadiyya Community in Canada
1:40:00

Farhan Khokhar (Na’ib Amīr)(Vice President) was there too, he said: “We have placed Bradford on the map” (See 1:38:58 time stamp)!! This was done in a braggadocio way.

Council members asked him questions. Deputy Mayor Raj Sandhu who is totally on the Qadiani side asked Khokar for a list of businesses that AMJ bought money from. According to reports from AMJ, the organization had spent more than $1 million locally on the conference including roughly: $143,000 at Home Depot, $140,000 at Battlefield Rental, $115,000 at The Sarjeant Co., $100,000 at Gwillimdale Farms, $28,000 at Petro Canada, $18,000 at Tim Hortons, plus more at Osmows, Walmart, Dollarama, Canadian Tire, Bradford Rental and more.

Mayor James Leduc, who is also in full support of the Qadiani’s also spoke. Leduc mentioned 4 complaints, 1–signage, 2-Traffic, he also mentioned that there was medical staff on site, however, these aren’t insured workers and if they make a mistake, it would be a huge lawsuit. Accidents were not related to the Jalsa? He said it’s open to everyone, however, a person must register on a website before attending, in other words, Muslims like me won’t be invited.

Councillor, Ward 7, Peter Dykie also spoke and brought the issue of cell phone issues during the Jalsa and how reception was almost zero for local residents. Farhan Khokhar (Na’ib Amīr)(Vice President) then admitted that the Ahmadiyya Movement installed a cellular tower (which is illegal), this caused Dykie to tell him that the system that was put in place might have caused the issue.

Coun. Cheraldean Duhaney from Ward 1 is in full support of the Qadiani’s. She even said, “we can disagree to agree”, and she kept saying it was well organized.

Coun. Peter Ferragine from Ward 5 also spoke, he attended the Jalsa himself. He received multiple phone calls about traffic complaints, he also mentioned the accidents, and how people could not get home. He can’t support the Jalsa-2025 and he thought this was only for one year, not an annual event. It was too much, this convention should be held at a convention center. He also mentioned the cell phone issue, noise levels, he also mentioned that the land was supposed to be converted back to farm land by July-2024. That was not done at all. Peter Ferragine also mentioned how the Ahmadiyya Movement admitted to buying concrete, Ferragine asked was this the crushed concrete aggregate that he saw which was used to build a driveway in the back of the Jalsa site? This is illegal. He also explained how other events in Bradford like the carrot fest were open to the public and held in the downtown area and open for all to attend. Ferragine also mentioned how Jalsa-2025 in Canada is already advertised to Ahmadi’s as being held in Bradford, this was disrespectful and rude and done in an egregious manner, since the permits were not in hand. In fact, in Sep-2024, it was the first time that this event had been put forward for approval, why was the Ahmadiyya Movement advertising it already?

Councillor Nickolas Harper from Ward 6 also spoke, he also attended the Jalsa-2024 in Bradford. He was impressed by the organizational aspect of it. He said that he didn’t expect the event to come back in 2025, he said that Ahmadi’s were boasting about all the land that they own in Canada, he said that since this was a National Event, it should be held in different areas. Let the land refresh, put us on the map? Why not be national?

Councillor Ben Verkaik, from Ward 3 also is against the Jalsa and cited the same reasons as Ferragine. He mentioned how this land has been used in the past to grow carrots, soy beans, potatoes and hay. If this event happens every year, this would kill the farm land.

Councillor Joseph Giordano from Ward-4 also spoke. He can’t support the Jalsa-2025, his parents had a medical emergency and he couldn’t get to their house. He was delayed by 6 hours. He also mentioned how the Carrot fest is a public event, and thus accomadations have been made, however, this Ahmadiyya Jalsa is a private event. This is a farm, however, he saw concrete aggregate, there were excavators on site, all of this was illegal. He thought it would be like Woodstock. However, it’s clear the Ahmadiyya Movement lied about their intentions here. He also said that he saw network cables all over the property. He feels duped! He said that the Ahmadiyya Movement did all of this on purpose, they knew it was illegal, but they did it anyways. He also has not seen a post-event report from any agencies. Has the land been returned to it’s original state? There was no investment in the town, most items were bought from corporations like Home Depot and Wal Mart. Lots of small businesses were hurting that weekend and most residents got the hell out of town that weekend.

Deputy Mayor Raj Sandhu spoke again, and in full support of the Qadiani’s. He admitted that some Ahmadi’s are using an adjacent property to advertise their businesses and the signs are too much.

Councillor, Ward 7, Peter Dykie spoke again and re-iterated that this event was only supposed to be for one year and thus, he won’t be voting for it again. Deputy Mayor Raj Sandhu then said that he is glad that this is a recorded vote, he wants the community to know that 1 million was pushed away, all money ain’t good money! Coun. Peter Ferragine from Ward 5 called that comment uncalled for.

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