"For 25 years, there has been a standing incitement to genocide, a stand-alone breach of the Genocide Convention."

"The ongoing missile attacks over the years means Israel is entitled to exercise its right of self-defence because of the standing and imminent threat of genocide."

"[The United Nations has provided] protective cover [for Iran rather than holding it to account for[ genocidal antisemitism."

"The problem has been that those who should have been protecting the rules-based order -- including the U.S. -- have, regrettably, abandoned transnational alliances and upended the rules-based international order."

"But that doesn't mean we have to acquiesce to Iran and its murderous proxies."

Irwin Cotler, former Canadian justice minister, human rights activist

A handout picture provided by the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's office shows him greeting the crowd before addressing the nation on May 20, 2025 in Tehran.  Photo by -/KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty Images

 

This is a man who was once part of the Government of Canada, and at that time a Liberal cabinet minister, decades ago. He has since fully immersed himself in human rights affairs, as a seasoned lawyer and dedicated human rights defender. Iran is just one egregious purveyor of human rights offences that Mr. Cotler has engaged with. But it is also the only source of an active lethal threat against him, that many might recognize as a fatwa. In 2024, Mr. Cotler was advised that Canadian intelligence services was aware of an active plot to assassination him, from Iran. To this day he remains under police protection.

 

Canada cut off diplomatic relations with Iran under the Conservative-led government of then-prime minister Stephen Harper. When Justin Trudeau became prime minister under the banner of a Liberal government he mused about the need to renew diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Much to the consternation of the large Iranian-Canadian population which had arrived in Canada following the 1979 Islamic Revolution to escape the excesses of the new fundamentalist Islamist government.

 

Despite the lack of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Iranian-Canadian citizens have noted with dismay and fear the increasing presence of Iranian officials linked to the regime, as well as Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members, residing in Canada, walking its streets, establishing their families in Canada as a safe haven. Among them is the family of the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani. In the chaos of the joint Israeli-U.S. aerial attacks against the Iranian regime to destroy its nuclear facilities and ballistic missile launch sites, agents of the regime live in Canada.

 

Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), holds a press conference in Tehran, Iran. /Courtesy of Yonhap News

 

Many of them are in Canada illegally. Some among them are elite members or family members of the IRGC and the government. Many who are identified are meant to be deported, a process that has succeeded so far in deporting one single individual. In the past few years, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had elevated Ali Larijani to a powerful authority post that even the current president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian must report to. Before his death Khamenei tasked Larijani to take any and all measures to ensure the survival of the Islamic Republic. During the mass protests of January that roiled the country, Larijani oversaw the brutal lethal response that left thousands dead.

 

The Larijani family was second in influence and power only to the late Ali Khamenei. As a surviving member of the Iranian ruling elite, Larijani has control second to none now. While a governing council was struck to decide a successor to Ayatollah Khamenei, not much is done without Ali Larijani's approval and guidance. One of five Larijani brothers, serving top posts in the hierarchy of Iran's Islamic Republic he is now the power behind the throne of Shiite domination in the majority Sunni Middle East.

 

Two of his brothers are very familiar with Canada, having spent considerable time there, alongside their families. "The Larijani family is at the head of the Iranian state", a 2016 CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) analysis stated. Fazel Larijani was a cultural affairs attache at the Iranian embassy in Ottawa prior to diplomatic ties being severed in 2012. According to Iranian-Canadian anti-regime activists, Fazel's family continues to live in Canada. 

Iran's wartime power structure

 

The London-based Iran International outlet wrote of Bagher Ardeshir Larijani being granted permanent residency in Canada in 2016, which was rescinded ultimately on the basis of his having failed to live in Canada for a minimum of 730 days over a five-year period. Bagher's son, however, the report stated, "is now a Canadian citizen". There is much irony here in that Canada's large expatriate Iranian community organized immense demonstrations in celebration of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's death in an Israeli strike on his compound in Tehran.

 

The Iranian diaspora in Canada, one of the largest in the world, has warned for years that regime officials were present in their community, making use of Canada as a vacation destination, or alternately a safe haven where they could deposit their families. Morteza Talaei, a former police chief in Tehran who had been involved in the violent repressive response to Iran's 2003 demonstrations, had been reported by outraged Canadian Iranians having been seen working out at a Toronto gym. 

 

"Larijani is responsible for co-ordinating the response to the (January country-wide) protests on behalf of the Supreme Leader of Iran and has publicly called for Iranian security forces to use force to repress peaceful protesters" a report by the U.S. Department of the Treasury stated, leading to his being sanctioned on January 15. At a time when Larijani's nieces and nephews as well as  his own children lived and worked in the United States.

 

Despite barring entry of senior Iranian officials into Canada since 2022, Canada has been inexcusably tardy in removing Iranian officials from Canada. The Canada Border Services Agency, while tracking down 20 Iranian officials deemed ineligible to remain in Canada, managed to remove only one of those identified.  

"Based on their actions, there are reasonable grounds to believe that the IRGC has knowingly carried out, attempted to carry out, participated in or facilitated a terrorist activity, or has knowingly acted on behalf of, at the direction of, or in association with an entity that has knowingly carried out terrorist activity. Listing the IRGC means that they are a terrorist group."

"The decision to list the IRGC through the Criminal Code listing regime sends a strong message that Canada will use all tools at its disposal to combat the terrorist activity of the IRGC, conducted both unilaterally and in knowing association with listed terrorist entities such as Hizballah and Hamas."

"As a now-listed entity, the IRGC meets the definition of a “terrorist group” under Canada’s Criminal Code. As an immediate consequence of this listing, Canadian financial institutions, such as banks and brokerages, are required to immediately freeze the property of a listed entity. It is a criminal offence for anyone in Canada and Canadians abroad to knowingly deal with property owned or controlled by a terrorist group."

"Listing can also assist Canadian security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies to combat terrorism, including by helping to facilitate the laying of terrorism charges against perpetrators and supporters of terrorism. The terrorist listings mechanism plays a key role in countering terrorist financing. A listing can also help block sympathizers in Canada from providing assistance to terrorist groups."

Public Safety Canada, June 19, 2024