Justin Trudeau won’t say if Canada will designate the IRGC a terrorist organization | 24CA News
A Global News investigation has discovered proof that Canada has change into a protected haven for associates of the Islamic Republic of Iran who’re allegedly threatening the lives of Iranian Canadians, and different dissidents on this nation.
Critics of the regime are renewing their requires the Canadian authorities to record Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) as a terrorist group.
During an look in Maple Ridge, B.C., on Tuesday, Global News requested Trudeau if Canada would make that designation, similar to the United States did in 2019.
“We continue to watch and make sure we’re able to do everything we can that is responsible against the impact of the IRGC,” Trudeau mentioned Tuesday.
“As I have said many many times, the Iranian regime responsible for the shooting down of PS752, killing of its own citizens and killing of Canadian citizens, its sponsorship of terror around the world, means that we will continue to do everything necessary, both to hold that regime to account, to limit its impact around the world and to protect Canadians.”
The IRGC is the regime’s highly effective paramilitary group that’s behind many human rights violations in Iran.
On Jan. 8, 2020, the IRGC shot down Ukraine Airlines flight 752 over Tehran, with two surface-to-air missiles.
It killed all 176 individuals on board, together with 55 Canadian residents and 30 everlasting residents.
Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom have mentioned they may refer Iran to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the incident.
The investigation on Global News’ present affairs program The New Reality this weekend reported an alarming variety of regime associates are allegedly dwelling and working in Canada.
Ramin Joubin is a B.C. immigration lawyer who has been figuring out and investigating the alarming variety of individuals in Canada with ties to the regime.
“We have about 700 names, right now, that either have temporary residence, permanent residence or citizenship, that are in Canada, and are somehow regime affiliates,” Joubin informed Global News. “And some of them had this pre-planned already and they came to Canada knowing that this is going to be their safe haven.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been promising to cope with the issue. He stood with the households of the victims of PS752 in Ottawa on Oct. 29, 2022. He was passionate in his empathy and his rhetoric: “We know there are people in Canada now who have benefited from the corrupt, horrific regime in Iran and who are hiding amongst … this beautiful community.”
Trudeau was emphatic on taking motion: “We will be working with all the tools at our disposal to make sure Canada is never again a haven for killers, murders, and those responsible for the repression of Iranian people,” he mentioned final October.
On Tuesday, Trudeau defended the actions of his authorities. “One of the steps we have taken, as a government just last year was using a tool has rarely been used in Canada…where we have used measures to list the senior members of the IRGC as being permanently banned from Canada. Even if there is a regime change and a vast improvement of the way the Iranian regime treats not just its people but people around the world, those people will be banned for the rest of their lives from Canada.”
But that wasn’t sufficient to forestall Seyed Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi from coming into Canada this summer time.
Hashemi was a senior Minister for a similar Iranian administration on the time PS752 was shot down from the sky.
Just this August, Hashemi was noticed in Montreal — within the background of a Radio-Canada news report about Quebec tourism. He was additionally captured on social media visiting Casa Loma in Toronto.
During his Canadian trip, he reportedly threatened Canadian citizen Hamed Esmaeilion, whose spouse and daughter had been killed on PS752.
On Aug. 28, Immigration Minister Marc Miller posted on X that Hashemi’s utility for short-term residence was denied and that Hashemi was being barred for 3 years, because of “Iran’s disregard for human rights.”
All of this has raised new questions on how regime associates like Hashemi can get into Canada within the first place.
“There are major gaps in the system, gaps that a lot of regime officials are falling through,” says Canadian human rights lawyer Kaveh Shahrooz. “They’re able to come to Canada without being stopped or able to bring their money here, bring their family here and live comfortably.”
Immigration lawyer Joubin agrees, and in response to Trudeau’s remarks on Tuesday, says the federal government must designate the IRGC as a terrorist group, or clarify why it received’t.
“If you don’t want to do it, give us a reason. The lack of transparency and straightforwardness on this straightforward issue; of course it’s upsetting and it’s not something I want to see in Canadian politics,” Joubin mentioned.
Global News requested Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc for solutions. In a press release, a spokesperson for Minister Leblanc mentioned: “Foreign interference by state and non-state actors targets numerous facets of our society – and those first and most impacted are often diaspora communities.
“Any attempts by foreign agents to intimidate or coerce of Canadian citizens on Canadian soil is simply unacceptable. Our government has a series of tools to combat foreign interference. We are continuously looking at ways to adapt our measures in light of evolving threats.”
“It’s really a mystery as to what else the IRGC needs to do to be listed as a terror group,” Shahrooz informed Global News. “I imply, we had organizations like The Proud Boys, a racist group that inside days of being examined by Canadian authorities, had been listed as a terror group. The IRGC has a documented document of killing Canadians and killing individuals of different nationalities in addition to the repression at dwelling.
“Part of the problem is that the government of Canada isn’t taking these steps (to list the IRGC as a terrorist entity), but I think equally bad is that the Government of Canada refuses to tell activists and stakeholders in the Iranian Canadian community why it’s not taking action,” Shahrooz added. “It says all the right rhetoric about wanting to stand with the Iranian people, but doesn’t actually take the steps or explain why it doesn’t adopt the policies that we need.”
