Jewish, Iranian groups demand Canada list Iran military force as terrorist group

“We are asking for the IRGC to be designated as a terrorist group in Canada within the next 30 days. No further delays will be accepted by Canadians on this important public safety issue,” said B’nai Brith Canada’s CEO.

By World Israel News Staff 

Leaders from Canada’s Iranian and Jewish communities have given the federal government 30 days’ notice to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in its entirety as a terrorist organization, B’nai Brith Canada, a senior human rights advocacy organization, said in a press release.

At a news conference in Ottawa Monday, leaders from the Council of Iranian Canadians, the Justice 88 Campaign and B’nai Brith Canada urged the government to implement a motion previously passed by the House of Commons in June, 2018, the organization reported.

“Our government is now on notice,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “We are asking for the IRGC to be designated as a terrorist group in Canada within the next 30 days. No further delays will be accepted by Canadians on this important public safety issue.”

In June of 2018, the House of Commons passed an opposition motion sponsored by Sherwood Park–Fort Saskatchewan MP Garnett Genuis, asking the government to “immediately” list the IRGC as a terrorist entity, the organization notes. All Conservative and Liberal MPs in attendance voted in favor.

The U.S. formally listed the IRGC as a terrorist group in April 2019. Canada has listed the Quds Force, the IRGC’s external operations branch, but not the IRGC as a whole, B’nai Brith explains.

No reason has been provided for Ottawa’s failure to follow through with the listing, even 19 months later, according to the press release.

“Unfathomably, more than a year and a half has elapsed since the motion passed,” Mostyn noted. “Why has this designation not yet occurred when it is the clearly expressed will of Parliament?”

Canadian Senator Linda Frum has long been advocating for the listing of the IRGC in its entirety as a terrorist organization, notes B’nai Brith. “It seems like an eternity ago when this motion passed,” she said. “The IRGC clearly needs to be listed in Canada. There can be no more delay on this.”

“The designation of the IRGC as a terrorist entity is an urgent matter,” said Avideh Motmaen-Far, president of the Council of Iranian Canadians. “Today, as the Islamist Regime schemes to avenge slain IRGC General Qasem Soleimani, the IRGC poses a greater risk than ever before to Canada’s Iranian and Jewish communities.”

“The Public Safety Minister should heed the will of Parliament and list the IRGC without delay,” stated Reza Banai, Chair of the Justice 88 Campaign. “Since June of 2018, hundreds of Iranians have been murdered just for demanding their basic rights – the least our government can do is sanction the IRGC, which is responsible for so much misery in Iran and throughout the region.”

Canadian funds could assist terror, warns legal counsel

“There is no basis in law or in policy for banning the Quds Force, while failing to do so for the entire IRGC,” said David Matas, National Senior Legal Counsel for B’nai Brith Canada. “Canada has rightly rejected that approach when it comes to other terrorist groups, such has Hezbollah and Hamas.

“Any funds sent to the IRGC from Canada – which remains legal today – could be used to assist the Quds Force in carrying out acts of terrorism,” he warned.

Following the deadly plane crash that claimed the lives of 57 Canadians when an Iranian missile shot down the Ukrainian airliner, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared to blame U.S. President Donald Trump, while not mentioning him directly. The tragic incident occurred after Trump ordered the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top general, in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad.

“If there was no escalation recently in the region, those Canadians would be right now home with their families,” he said in an interview with Global News Television. This is something that happens when you have conflict and the war. Innocents bear the brunt of it.”

Canada suspended diplomatic relations with Iran in 2012, but Trudeau and Canada’s foreign minister have been in touch with their Iranian counterparts since the plane was shot down, Associated Press reports.

B’nai Brith invites Canadians who want Iran’s IRGC to be listed as a terrorist group in this country to sign its petition.

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