44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 28, 2023 10:00AM
- Mar/28/23 11:22:22 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Battle River—Crowfoot for his speech, and I hope he feels better soon. He seems to have caught a bug that is affecting his usual tenor.
I have an acquaintance of Iranian origin from a past life. He did his military service a few years ago, and he has been refused a visa. How can we prevent Iranian nationals who have done nothing wrong from getting caught up in measures now being implemented to ensure national security and to condemn the Iranian regime?
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- Mar/28/23 12:03:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, indeed, we are all united on this issue. We need to use every available tool to pressure this brutal regime, the Iranian regime. As far as women's rights are concerned, it is clear that women continue to be oppressed. Mahsa Amini is just one of the victims of this brutal and misogynistic regime.
With that being said, this government must take action. It has not taken all the necessary steps or used all available tools. That is what today's debate is trying to address. The government must once again be willing to take direction from the House of Commons to use all available tools to end the Iranian regime's impunity in relation to its citizens and to put pressure on this brutal regime.
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- Mar/28/23 12:07:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is fair to say that the government has used a number of tools. Of that I have no doubt, but fundamentally we still come back to the issue that has now been pending for a number of months, which is listing the IRGC as a terrorist organization. It is fair to say that the issue has to be dealt with, and the government needs to go into more detail on it because of the complexity around it.
We do not want a fallout that impacts innocent people, but the IRGC is behind much of the violence of this brutal regime. The tools need to be put in place. If the motion we are discussing today is voted on, and I believe it will be, and passed, it would be a strong message to the government to act now to do the work. It would assure that it comes back to the House of Commons in short order to say what it can do to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization, noting exemptions to ensure that innocent people are not impacted by that decision. The government needs to act, and the vote we will have on this will increase the pressure for the government to act now.
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- Mar/28/23 12:21:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question, which is very important to us.
How do we go further in terms of assisting the Iranian people in achieving their goals of living in a free, democratic and secular country?
I think that the one thing that we can continue to do is that we cannot forget about what is going on in Iran. For the media, for those who broadcast messages and for us as politicians, we need to continue to amplify the message of what the wishes of the Iranian people are.
We need to continue to work with the very dynamic, blessed diaspora that we have here in Canada, whether it is in British Columbia, Ontario or across this country, to make sure that we continue to put pressure on that regime and on international organizations. From here in Canada, we should also continue to work with our allies to push back against this heinous regime and what is going on in that beautiful country.
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- Mar/28/23 12:22:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I always appreciate the member speaking. I enjoyed his speech, but there is a missing link or gap: For months now, we have been calling on the government to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization. We understand, and I think all members of the House understand, that we want to make sure this is done in such a way that it does not have an impact on innocent people.
However, we have not seen movement from the government around the IRGC to do the work, do the analysis and provide for the exemptions or the careful measurement that needs to go with designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization. We have not seen that work being done.
My question to my colleague is simply this: Given the importance of pushing back against the brutal regime and using all the tools necessary, why has the government not acted, provided us with a risk analysis and provided us with information so that we can move to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization?
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- Mar/28/23 12:23:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, to the hon. member from the Lower Mainland, who is a good friend and colleague, I wish to say that our government will continue to work at a very quick pace in terms of continuing to impose sanctions and pressure. This may be done directly by Canada to the oppressive regime in Iran or done by working with all of our allies to hold Iran and the Iranian regime accountable for its actions, from the downing of PS752 to the oppressive actions against its citizens that continue to occur to this day.
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- Mar/28/23 12:33:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member opposite's advocacy. I have always appreciated it. I know that she was on this cause long before I was here and long before many other members were here, so I commend her on that. I also appreciate that she is one of the few members on the other side talking about a true regime change. As well, I appreciate that she is one of the few members on the other side who have admitted that the IRGC should be banned and listed as a terrorist organization. I appreciate her support for that.
Why will she not advocate to the rest of the government to do what it voted to do in 2018, which is to help those who are here, the families in our neighbourhoods? I know they sometimes go to the gym or to a Starbucks with their children, and they are fearful of members of the regime. They call our offices with a blurred-out background in their car away from their homes, because they are terrified of who is in the country and why they are still let in here. I know the government has sanctioned a number of regime operatives, but it does not know whom it has sanctioned. The government does not have the names of all those it has purportedly put on a list in terms of a number. We cannot put 10,000 people on a list and not know who they are. That is not real action.
I wonder if the member will advocate to her government to finally list and ban the IRGC as a terrorist organization here in this country.
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- Mar/28/23 12:34:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I very much enjoy the times when my colleague and I occasionally get together at events.
We do not always know what the government is doing. It does not send out a message to us every day on what it is doing and what it is not doing. When the government chose to take the route of not doing a blanket cover over everybody in Iran who was part of the regime, it was an attempt to make sure that innocent people were not caught up in that. That is the route it chose to take.
There are senior officials who know exactly how many people are on that 10,000-plus list and who they are. They are doing the best they can to protect people's individuality and their opportunity to be treated fairly. We do not want to be like the regime in Iran and put a blanket over everybody and say everybody is inadmissible for whatever terrible reason.
I do want to add that we need to do more together than just label it as a terrorist organization. More needs to be done. That is just one step. It works for us to talk about it here in the House, but more needs to be done.
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- Mar/28/23 12:49:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I stated, the decisions we have made have primarily targeted the senior ranks of the regime. It is sad to see that Iranians who are complicit with the regime manage to come to Canada despite the security measures in place to carry out a case-by-case analysis. What we need to do is ensure that those who are complicit with the regime and commit inhumane acts against their own fellow citizens are sanctioned and barred from Canada by conducting a case-by-case review.
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- Mar/28/23 12:52:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the diaspora is definitely scattered, but it is informed. Some of them support the regime, but all those I met were against what is happening right now and do not recognize their country, the beautiful Iran of the past. They would like their country to recover the historic, secular beauty that it once had.
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