StructureDiscretionary managed portfolios across registered accounts (RRSP, TFSA, RESP, RRIF, LIRA, FHSA, IPP/PPP) and non-registered accounts. AAOIFI screens exclude alcohol, tobacco, gambling, interest-based businesses, weapons and pork, with financial-ratio screens (debt, interest income, receivables vs market cap). Asset classes: halal equities, sukūk and Islamic ETFs; no preferred shares or interest-bearing securities. Management fee 0.5–1.5% p.a.; no fund commissions accepted.
Canada's first OSC-registered portfolio-management firm dedicated to halal investing (launched February 2020), registered as a Portfolio Manager and Exempt Market Dealer across six provinces, with custody via Fidelity Clearing Canada (CIPF-protected). It manages AAOIFI-screened portfolios in all major registered-account types. Yellow because no named Canadian Shariah supervisory board is disclosed publicly and the annual compliance certificate is referenced but not downloadable.
Read the contract →Provider white papers, FAQs or fatāwā were read, but the executed contract itself is not public. This rates our certainty, not the provider’s compliance.
Established & regulatory standing
The verifiable facts
Established
ShariaPortfolio Canada Inc. launched 7 February 2020 on receiving OSC registration; the US affiliate (ShariaPortfolio LLC) was founded in 2003.
Regulatory standing
OSC principal regulator; registered Portfolio Manager and Exempt Market Dealer in Ontario, Alberta, BC, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Custody/clearing via Fidelity Clearing Canada ULC (CIRO-registered, CIPF member).
Shariah board
Who certifies it
No individual Canadian Shariah-board members are named in public sources; compliance is described as AAOIFI-standard-based at the methodology level. An annual Shariah-compliance certificate is referenced but not publicly downloadable.
A named, credentialled board is a real signal — but a provider’s own board certifying its own product is not the same as arm’s-length review. Weigh it alongside the independent commentary below.
Independent scholarly review
What independent scholars have said
Not named in the AMJA 2025 Canada resolution; no independent Canadian scholar fatwa located.
Independent commentary is weighed, not treated as a final personal ruling. A body that rules one way is one respected voice, not a universal consensus — and rulings can lag changes to a live contract.
How the structure works
The mechanics, in principle
Discretionary managed portfolios across registered accounts (RRSP, TFSA, RESP, RRIF, LIRA, FHSA, IPP/PPP) and non-registered accounts. AAOIFI screens exclude alcohol, tobacco, gambling, interest-based businesses, weapons and pork, with financial-ratio screens (debt, interest income, receivables vs market cap). Asset classes: halal equities, sukūk and Islamic ETFs; no preferred shares or interest-bearing securities. Management fee 0.5–1.5% p.a.; no fund commissions accepted.
This describes the structure in principle — it is not a verdict on the executed contract. Canada’s halal-finance market is young, so confirm each provider’s current executed terms before committing; the checklist below is what tests the fiqh.
From the public documents
How the contract actually works
Read from ShariaPortfolio Canada’s own public materials — white papers, product pages, FAQs and fatāwā — not its executed contract, which is generally not published. Where a point is undisclosed, it is said plainly rather than guessed. Sources are listed below.
The structure is a straightforward wakālah (agency) — the firm acts as discretionary agent within a Shariah-defined universe — which is well-established and broadly permissible. The open question is the identity and independence of the scholars who sign off on the AAOIFI screening as applied (AAOIFI is a credible standards body, but the implementing firm should still have its own board verify correct application and purification). The annual compliance certificate is referenced but not public. Registered-account wrappers are generally compatible with halal investing (the account is a tax vehicle, not an interest product), and Fidelity custody plus CIPF membership give strong client-asset protection. No purification methodology document was located publicly.
The Six-Pillar test
The questions that decide it
This is the universal lens this site applies to every home-finance contract, anywhere. Read each pillar as a question to put to ShariaPortfolio Canada’s executed contract — not its brochure.
- 1
Real ownership
Does the financier genuinely take ownership of the asset — even briefly — and bear a real owner's risk, rather than only ever holding a debt secured against it?
- 2
Risk-sharing
If the asset is destroyed or its value collapses, does the financier share that loss in proportion to its stake, or is the customer left bearing it alone?
- 3
Rent vs interest
In a lease/co-ownership, is the rent benchmarked to a genuine market rent for the property — or is it calibrated to an interest rate (a base-rate + margin) in disguise?
- 4
Default mechanism
On default, does the contract behave like the end of a real lease/partnership — or does it accelerate like a loan, demanding the full outstanding 'principal' plus charges?
- 5
No guaranteed pre-fixed return
Is the financier's return tied to real ownership and risk, or is it a pre-fixed, guaranteed sum that arrives regardless of what happens to the asset?
- 6
Substance over form
Strip away the Arabic labels: does the cashflow, risk, and outcome differ from a conventional loan — or is it the same economics wearing a compliant name (ḥiyal)?
Before you sign
What to ask ShariaPortfolio Canada, in writing
Put these to the provider in writing and keep the answers. The reply — not the marketing — is what tells you whether the structure holds.
Who are the named Shariah-board members for ShariaPortfolio Canada, and are they independent of management?
May I receive the most recent annual Shariah-compliance certificate?
Does the AAOIFI screen apply security-by-security, and who runs stock-level purification calculations?
How is non-compliant income purified, and is that methodology certified?
Are the portfolio's sukūk investment-grade and asset-backed, and has their structure been reviewed by a Canada-based scholar?
The honest gap
What we have not verified
- Named Canadian Shariah-board members.
- Whether the annual compliance certificate is publicly available.
- Current Canadian AUM.
- Whether the referenced SP Funds are separate US-listed ETFs or Canadian securities.
The reasoning
Why this verdict, and not another
A verdict is only as honest as the reasoning behind it. Here is why ShariaPortfolio Canada sits where it does — what keeps it off a clean pass, and what keeps it off an outright avoid.
Not a clean pass because
No named Canadian Shariah board in public disclosures; the annual certificate is referenced but not downloadable; the US parent's governance may not translate directly.
Not an outright avoid because
The strongest regulatory standing of any Canadian halal investment manager — OSC-registered Portfolio Manager across six provinces with CIPF custody protection — on a credible AAOIFI framework, with no regulatory actions located since its 2020 launch.
Sources
What this read is built on
The verifiable references behind this page — provider documents and independent scholarly resolutions. Read them yourself; do not take our summary on trust.