(Ottawa) After resisting for several years, the Trudeau government added the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to the list of Canadian terrorist entities.
Posted at 1:46 p.m.
Updated at 2:07 p.m.
Federal Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc announced on Wednesday the addition of this entity to the Canadian government’s blacklist, in what should be the last day of parliamentary work before the summer break.
The inscription sends “a clear message” to the Iranian regime – the Government of Canada “will use all tools at its disposal to combat the terrorist activities of the IRGC,” he declared alongside the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly.
She insisted on the fact that this decision was not without consequences, particularly with regard to the risks of arbitrary detention. This is now “much higher for Canadians who go to Iran or for all those who are in Iran”.
The Liberals have long resisted this request repeatedly made by the Iranian community in Canada, especially since the crash of a civilian aircraft shot down by the Iranian regime as it was taking off from Tehran airport on January 8. 2020.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nevertheless suggested last January, in a ceremony commemorating the air tragedy, that he could move forward with this inscription.
An electoral gesture, according to the conservatives
The Conservative Party has been clamoring for this measure for several years.
The group had also probably heard of the liberal project.
Because on Tuesday, in the House of Commons, the deputy Conservative leader, Melissa Lantsman, argued that it was an electoral gesture, while a by-election looms on the horizon in Toronto on June 24.
PHOTO SEAN KILPATRICK, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Melissa Lantsman
The riding where this by-election is being held, Toronto—St. Paul’s, has the fifth-largest proportion of Jewish residents in the country, at 15%, according to 2021 census data.
It is a liberal castle, but the fight there promises to be close.
The conservatives have also launched an appeal to the Jewish community.
In an interview obtained by The Canadian Press, Melissa Lantsman invites Jewish voters to go to the polls to send Justin Trudeau “a message about his betrayal of our Jewish community.”
Not a political decision, says LeBlanc
Minister LeBlanc denied having acted for political reasons.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc
The decision, he insisted, was taken following the recommendations of intelligence agencies such as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
“It is not based on comments made on Twitter [X] or during question period,” he argued.
A complex measure
Experts have highlighted the challenges of enforcing this type of sanction.
Designating the IRGC as a terrorist entity would impose a colossal burden on Canadian intelligence agencies, according to Thomas Juneau, associate professor of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, in September 2022.
“The task for the intelligence agencies would be enormous. Their capacity to control all the sanctions that Canada has imposed is already overwhelmed,” underlined the specialist in Iranian policy and national security.
