Canadian authorities need to intensify their efforts to prevent the country from becoming a refuge for members of the Iranian regime, according to warnings issued by Iranian Canadians. These warnings were laid bare in documents recently made public by the commission investigating foreign interference.
The Hogue Commission released documents summarizing meetings held last year with the Iranian diaspora on the issue of foreign interference and potential countermeasures. The Iranian Canadians in particular appealed for improved vetting processes to filter out regime officials who had served in the Islamic republic government before coming to Canada.
The commission’s documents highlighted concerns raised by some attendees about the presence of Iranian government officials, who had been involved in criminal activities and human rights abuses, residing in Canada. The community members also revealed to the inquiry that organizations within the Iranian Canadian community have been infiltrated and hijacked by individuals acting on behalf of the Iranian regime.
In spite of assurances from Ottawa to expel high-ranking regime officials, Global News reported that only one of the 18 identified officials had been deported by the Canada Border Services Agency. As a result, Canada has gained a reputation for being a safe sanctuary for Islamic regime officials and their families, according to Tehran-born human rights activist Nazanin Afshin-Jam MacKay.
MacKay also recounted how it was disturbing for Iranian Canadians to witness officials from the Islamic regime present in Canada, citing an instance where Iranian nuclear officials were invited to the University of British Columbia. She further expressed her anguish at seeing the children of Iranian regime officials flaunting their wealth in Vancouver and alleged that realtors were assisting these officials in investing their money in British Columbia.
She called for border agents to be better trained and more aware, suggesting they use the public online database Faces of Crimes, which documents the abuses of regime officials in Iran. Other witnesses echoed similar concerns, with one even proposing the establishment of a department within Canada’s immigration or foreign affairs departments to scrutinize immigration applications from Iran.
The Iranian regime is among several others that Canada has accused of threatening and intimidating dissenters within the diaspora. The Canadian government declared in November 2022 that it had banned senior regime officials from the country in response to Tehran’s crackdown on women’s rights protests. Despite this, only a few deportation hearings have been completed, with only one official being successfully removed from Canada.
