Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc rises during Question Period in Ottawa, on June 17.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Canada is designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian armed forces, as a terrorist organization under this country’s Criminal Code, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced.
This will affect the IRGC’s ability to raise funds or own property and financial assets in Canada and will restrict entry into the country by those who have served in the organization.
Thousands of senior Iranian government officials are now banned from entering the country and those already inside Canada may be investigated and removed, Mr. LeBlanc said.
“This action sends a strong message that Canada will use all of the tools at its disposal to combat the terrorist entity of the IRGC,” Mr. LeBlanc said.
“The Iranian regime has consistently displayed disregard for human rights both inside and outside of Iran, as well as a willingness to destabilize the international rules-based order. Our government will ensure that there is no immunity for Iran’s unlawful actions and its support of terrorism. “
The Liberal government had for years resisted calls to label the guard corps a terrorist organization.
In 2023, then-justice minister David Lametti argued that military service in Iran is mandatory, so designating the IRGC as a terrorist entity could target innocent people, not just its leaders.
But in January, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said that the Canadian government was looking at ways to “responsibly” apply the designation. His comments were made on the fourth anniversary of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shooting down commercial flight Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, killing all 176 people on board, including about 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents.
The U.S. designated the IRGC a terrorist organization in 2019. Canada’s Senate passed a non-binding motion in 2018 calling on the government to do the same, building on a similar resolution passed that year by the House of Commons.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, whose party had been urging the terrorist designation for years, accused Mr. Trudeau of timing the measure to coincide with a closely watched Toronto by-election set for June 24. The Liberals are trying to retain the stronghold riding of Toronto-St. Paul’s, despite badly trailing the Conservatives nationally in the polls.
Results from the 2021 census indicate than 15 per cent of the riding’s population identify as Jewish.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) immediately welcomed Ottawa’s action on the IRGC Wednesday. President Shimon Koffler Fogel said “the Canadian Jewish community has persistently called for this decisive action against the IRGC, recognizing its role in promoting violence and instability globally, including through its support for terrorist groups targeting Jews” and others.
“It took a by-election for the Prime Minister to change his mind,” Mr. Poilievre said during Question Period in the House of Commons.
Mr. LeBlanc, pressed by reporters to explain the timing of this announcement, said the government was acting on advice from security and intelligence services including the RCMP and CSIS and “strong and compelling evidence” presented to cabinet.
“The decision to list an organization under Canada’s Criminal Code as a terrorist entity isn’t made because of comments on Twitter, or Question Period,” he said.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair disputed this, telling CTV he thinks the IRGC designation is about the Toronto by-election. He argued that the riding’s Jewish population is unhappy with the recent Liberal record on Israel and Gaza.
“It’s transparently clear that the Liberals are reacting more to what they are getting on the doorstep than to anything the RCMP or CSIS told them,” Mr. Mulcair said.
Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, also lauded Ottawa’s move, saying in a statement that it sends a clear message to Iran that its terror activities in both the Middle East and around the world will not be tolerated.
“Hamas’s horrific attack on Oct. 7 and the ongoing attacks by Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border communities are directed and supported by IRGC as part of Iran’s destructive campaign in the region,” he said.
Conservative foreign-affairs critic Michael Chong and deputy leader Melissa Lantsman said Canada’s delay in designating the Revolutionary Guard as terrorists has allowed the group to “fundraise, recruit and operate in Canada,” including harassing and terrorizing countless Iranian-Canadians who fled to this country to escape the Iranian regime.
Iranian-Canadian lawyer Ram Joubin said members of his community have so far counted 700 individuals linked to the Iranian regime who live in Canada or have some sort of immigration status in this country. This count includes more than just IRGC members.
Last fall, a bipartisan group of U.S. members of Congress pressed Canada to designate the IRGC as a terrorist entity, citing Iran’s alleged involvement in the funding, training and support of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants.
In a letter sent to the Prime Minister last December, 14 members of the House of Representatives said the guard corps is “ideologically committed to destroying Israel and undermining U.S.-Canadian security interests in the Middle East and around the world.”
Thomas Juneau, a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, said the problem facing Canada is current or former IRGC officers, or their proxies, coming to this country to park their financial assets and conduct transnational repression of Iranian activists – trying to shut down their criticism of Tehran.
He called Wednesday’s announcement a politically expedient measure driven by domestic political considerations, explaining that members of the Iranian-Canadian community had been pushing for this.
But Prof. Juneau said, in his opinion, that the designation wasn’t the smartest way to tackle the problem posed by the IRGC in Canada. He said Canada’s national-security and intelligence agencies are “completely overstretched” right now without the resources or capability of tackling all the threats this country faces. Asking them to track down officers in Canada and their assets is “adding a significant burden to their plate.”
Instead, Prof. Juneau said, Canada should be enforcing existing sanctions against Iran and adding targeted sanctions against more individuals.