Senator Miville-Dechêne: The United Kingdom, France, Germany and the European Union have adopted age verification laws to access online porn. They have safeguards to ensure privacy of data, like Bill S-210. Why not look at these examples instead of deciding to allow children to freely access the porn sites?

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Welcome to the Senate, Senator Gold. In Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has for months been functioning as the strong arm of a regime that imprisons and executes its political opponents. For years, this group has been destabilizing the entire Middle East with its terrorist activities. The United States designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group long ago, but Canada is waffling over what would be a strong signal to an Iranian regime that systematically violates its citizens’ rights. Why not take action on this very issue by designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group?

Senator Miville-Dechêne: Even though you’re still considering the matter, Canada claimed in the past that it was reluctant to impose this designation because it was worried about penalizing conscripts. However, according to security expert Michel Juneau-Katsuya, that argument doesn’t hold water because rank-and-file fighters are not the ones who would be affected. It would be the highest ranking officers who have assets and who could engage in interference in Canada or try to cross our borders. I would remind you that there are already 73 other groups on the list of terrorist organizations and that many of them are not very well known or not very active. Isn’t it time to add the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to that blacklist?