In 2014, the NCCM sued former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his spokesman Jason MacDonald for defamation for alleging that the organization had "documented ties" to Hamas, a designated terrorist group in Canada. In February 2015, Jason MacDonald was questioned under oath in the defamation case and Stephen Harper claimed parliamentary privilege to avoid testifying. That same month, MacDonald resigned as the Prime Minister's communications director. In March 2017, in a publicly announced settlement of the libel lawsuit, Jason MacDonald admitted that his statements regarding the NCCM were inaccurate. The Government of Canada also issued a statement "disavowing MacDonald's suggestion that the council had terrorist ties."
