Listing the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard as Terrorists in Canada

"As an immediate consequence of this listing [finally placing the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Canada's terrorist list], Canadian financial institutions, such as banks and brokerages, are required to immediately freeze the property of a listed entity."

"It is a criminal offence for anyone in Canada and Canadians abroad to knowingly deal with property owned or controlled by a terrorist group."

Trudeau government statement

CSIS recently confirmed there are multiple 'credible' death threats from Iran aimed at people in Canada.  Iranians experience being monitored and intimidated on Canadian soil. CBC

Before the Liberals regained government and the Conservative Party of Canada under Stephen Harper as prime minister recognized the harm that the Islamic Republic of Iran was wreaking in the Middle East and with the knowledge that Iranian operatives were manipulating expatriate Iranians in Canada critical of the Republic, issuing threats and intimidating those who had fled after 1979 when the Islamic Republic replaced the Iran of Reza Shah Pahlavi, Canada cut off diplomatic ties with the Middle East terror state.

 

It was Justin Trudeau's intention to restore those diplomatic relations, to re-open Canada's embassy in Tehran, and invite Iran to return to Canada, and to re-establish trade ties. Iran, and its elite Republican Guard Corps as well as its proxy terror militia in Lebanon, Hezbollah, were known to have been responsible for terrorist bombings in Argentina targeting Jewish social centres. That rapprochement never did get off the ground. In the interim, the U.S. added the IRGC to its terror list, an entity that controls Iran's nuclear and missile program. 

 

UR-PSR Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752

Iranian Canadians have been urging the Liberal government to place the IRGC on Canada's terrorist list since a Ukrainian passenger jet travelling from Iran to Ukraine in 2020, then on to Canada with 176 passengers, 50 Canadians, 30 permanent residents, and students from Iran studying in Canada, along with other nationalities on board. A tense aura was present at the time, when American and Iranian hostilities were seeing exchanges of missiles. Iran failed to alert civil aviation and left its skies open to travellers even while it expected that the U.S. would fire missiles from its targeted base.

 

Members of the Iranian community gather and grieve on the fourth anniversary of the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, in Toronto on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press)

The result was the departing Flight 752 was misidentified by the IRGC forces as an American ballistic missile, even though the flight was departing in a direction opposite to which a US missile would arrive to hit Tehran, and all passengers and crew aboard the jet were killed. Canada demanded answers from Tehran which denied it had shot down the jet, but eventually the truth emerged. 

 

Then came the murder of a young Iranian-Kurdish woman detained by 'morality police' for incorrectly wearing her hijab. The resulting protests saw violence erupt by the regime against those who campaigned against its strict dress code. An estimated 22,000 Iranians were arrested while the ongoing series of mass protests continued, and over 530 protesters were killed by the Iranian forces charged with restoring civic order. 

 

Iran is known to have recognized, trained and armed Hamas in Gaza, in its never-ending campaign to destroy Israel. Hezbollah, established, trained and armed by the al Quds arm of the IRGC operates as the Republic's proxy in threatening the Jewish State and committing terrorist acts abroad. The Yemeni Houthis, another Iranian proxy, have interrupted international commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Mediterranean.

Through all of these upheavals the government of Canada has assured Canadian Iranians that it is in full support of their well-being, even while it has done nothing about the infiltration into Canada of Iranian government officials who move about freely in Canada. That Iranian Canadians feel threatened by the presence of members of the Iranian government, is one issue. Another is that tens of millions of dollars go through a whitewashing process in Canada for Iran's benefit.

Although the House of Commons saw an all-party vote in favour of listing the IRGC years ago, the Trudeau government, which itself voted for the move, did nothing to turn the approved motion into law.  Once again another motion to designate the IRGC a terrorist entity passed unanimously a month ago by Parliament. Now that the motion has become law, it represents a crime to take part in and to contribute to activities of the military force. IRGC members' assets in Canada can now legally be frozen.

"I'm told that there's literally a monthly review by the security agencies of different entities around the world and whether or not the threshold has been met [to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization]."

"The Government of Canada has concluded after a deliberative process based on very, very strong and compelling evidence that the cabinet received that now is the time to list the IRGC as a criminal organization."

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc

Following the government announcement, Minister LeBlanc was questioned by reporters, wanting to know why it took so long for this decision to be made. As a nation that shares intelligence with the United States, Canada's public safety minister must be aware that the U.S. National Counterterrorism Centre considers the IRGC the Iranian regime's "primary organization responsible for conducting covert lethal activities outside of Iran, including asymmetric and terrorist operations." That the IRGC's external operations force "has plotted and conducted covert operations worldwide, providing guidance, training, funding and weapons to Shia militant partners and proxies in other Middle Eastern countries."

Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attend an IRGC ground forces military drill in the Aras area of East Azerbaijan province, Iran. (IRGC/WANA (West Asia News Agency))

"As a result of that delay [of six years since the House voted unanimously to place the IRGC on Canada's terrorist list], the IRGC has been able to grow stronger as a result of Trudeau's inaction."

"They have been allowed to fundraise, recruit and operate in Canada while terrorizing countless Iranian-Canadians who fled to Canada to escape the IRGC in the first place."

Conservative MPs Michael Chong and Melissa Lantsman