PM says government moving to block members of Iranian regime, IRGC from entering Canada
Government also allocating $76M to beef up sanction enforcement
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is taking steps to prevent top members of the Iranian regime — including members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — from entering Canada.
Trudeau said the move would affect the top 50 per cent of the IRGC — roughly 10,000 members — and will be permanent.
"We are using the most powerful tools at our disposal to crack down on this brutal regime," Trudeau told a press conference Friday.
The move comes after weeks of pressure on the government from opposition MPs and advocates to add the IRGC to Canada's terrorist list.
What the government announced falls short of listing the IRGC as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code. Instead, the government is using provisions under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) to target members of the regime and the IRGC.
Members of Parliament passed a motion in 2018 calling on the government to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Four years later, it still hasn't done so — although the guard's paramilitary Quds Force is already on the list.
WATCH | Trudeau announces $76M for sanctions:
Earlier this week, the government slapped sanctions on 34 Iranians and Iranian entities, including members of the IRGC and Iran's morality police.
Trudeau said Friday the government will be expanding those sanctions and will allocate $76 million to boost the government's capacity to seize and freeze the assets of sanctioned entities and establish a new sanctions bureau at Global Affairs Canada.
The Conservative opposition has been amping up the pressure on the government to add the IRGC to the list in recent weeks. Conservative MPs have brought up the topic up in nearly every question period since Parliament returned last month.
The Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims also has calling on Ottawa to add the IRGC to the list of terrorist organizations in response to its role in destroying the civilian aircraft two years ago.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland insisted Friday that by taking the steps it has taken, the federal government is recognizing the IRGC as a terrorist entity.
"The IRGC is a terrorist organization. Today, by listing the IRGC under IRPA and indeed by listing the broader leadership of the Iranian regime, we are formally recognizing that fact and acting accordingly," she said.
When asked why the government didn't actually add the IRGC to the list of terrorist entities under the Criminal Code, Trudeau didn't rule out doing so in the future.
"We have looked very, very carefully at all the potential tools and we're not taking any further tools off the table," he said, adding that the IRPA was used against individuals in Rwanda and Bosnia in the 1990s.
Designating an organization as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code can have serious criminal and financial consequences. Under section 83 of the Code, it is an indictable offence to "collect property ... provide or invite a person to provide, or make available property or financial or other related services" to a terrorist entity.
The designation also allows banks to freeze assets and permits police to charge those who financially or materially support such a group.
Iranian-Canadian lawyer and human rights activist Kaveh Shahrooz said Friday's announcement was "underwhelming."
"Making 10,000 members of the IRGC inadmissible to Canada is good, but it doesn't go far enough and I don't think it recognizes the sheer monstrosity of this organization," Shahrooz said.
WATCH | Critics react to government's new measures against Iranian regime:
But University of Ottawa professor Thomas Juneau, who studies Iranian politics, said Friday's announcement is likely to have far more of an impact than adding the IRGC to the terrorist list — as long as the government is able to enforce the measures.
Specifically, Juneau said, the measures could prevent the Iranian government from laundering money in Canada and thwart its efforts to harass Iranian-Canadians.
"In theory, Friday's announcement includes useful tools to try and counter these activities. In practice, the proof will be in the pudding," Juneau said in an interview with CBC Radio's The House, airing Saturday.
WATCH | Government announces new measures against Iranian regime leadership:
Juneau also argued that adding the IRGC to the terrorist list would be difficult to enforce and could have unintended effects, such as preventing Iranian-Canadians from sending money home to their families.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino's office said previously that adding an organization to the terrorist list is not up to politicians.
"Determining whether a group constitutes a terrorist entity is a careful, non-political process undertaken by Canada's national security agencies," spokesperson Alexander Cohen said in an email to The Canadian Press in September.
"These agencies are continuously working to identify and assess entities that may meet the threshold for listing."
WATCH | Trudeau says Canada will be pursuing IRGC as terrorist organization:
Former Canadian Security Intelligence Service officer Jessica Davis told CBC that adding the IRGC to the list would be a difficult process.
"This is a technocratic process in which the RCMP and CSIS produce intelligence reports making a recommendation to the minister about whether or not a group should be listed," she said, adding that it's not clear if the IRGC would meet the threshold used by those governmental bodies.
Shahrooz agreed that adding the IRGC to the list would not be an easy process. He said it should still be pursued.
Davis questioned the government's ability to enforce the IRPA measures announced today. She described the claim that the government has sufficient information on 10,000 members of the IRGC as "farfetched."
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With files from the Canadian Press and Evan Dyer