Amidst ongoing diplomatic tensions between Canada and India, a video has been circulating on social media claiming that Canada has banned the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Through this fact-check article, we aim to probe the authenticity of this claim.
Claim: A video shows a Canadian official declaring a ban on RSS in Canada.
Fact: The video features Stephen Brown, CEO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), an independent organisation; he is not a government official. Furthermore, he is calling for a ban but not declaring it. Therefore, the claim made in the post is False.
To evaluate this claim, we started by dissecting the video; during his speech, the man in the clip mentions NCCM, which prompted us to include this in our keyword search on the internet. This search directed us to the NCCM YouTube channel, where we found the original, longer video (also here and here) featuring the same speech(from here).
The NCCM is a non-governmental organisation (according to their website), and Stephen Brown, seen in the video, is the CEO. A press conference organised by the NCCM and the World Sikh Organization of Canada is the source of the viral video.
Here, Stephen called for the ban of the RSS and presented three additional demands in light of revelations concerning the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar (Canada alleged the involvement of the Indian government in this case).
Thus, while Brown does call for a ban on the RSS, this video is being shared as if a Canadian official was announcing a ban on RSS.
We also searched the website of the Canadian Ministry of External Affairs to see if any official announcement was made on the ban of RSS, which did not yield any credible information as of today, i.e. 22 September 2023. There are also no news reports to back this claim.
To sum up, the claim that the viral video portrays a Canadian official declaring a ban on RSS is false. Instead, it features the CEO of a community organisation in Canada making a personal call for such a ban.
