Iranian Canadians “Shame” Trudeau Outside His Office

On Saturday, April 1st many Iranians in the diaspora took to the streets to rally for more support of the Iranian people in their fight against the Islamic Republic. One of the larger gatherings was in Montreal Canada right outside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s constituency office.

The main organizer of the event was Moshen Rostami, a co-founder and spokesperson of Iranian Canadian Unity (ICU). 

The event lasted for a few hours and consisted of a series of speeches and anti-regime chants in both English and Farsi, as well as chants directed at the Liberal government advocating for policy directives like listing the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under the criminal code “IRGC terrorists, must be on the list” and imposing Magnitsky sanctions on human rights abusers “Iran will be free, impose Magnitsky”. However, the most interesting chant was when the crowd took aim at Justin Trudeau personally saying “Justin Trudeau shame, shame, shame. Stop playing games, games, games” 

I spoke to Moshen Rostami after the event about the goals of the rally.  He told me that Canada is the land of refuge for many Iranians and that they are grateful for the freedoms that it provides, and their goal is to maintain those freedoms by forcing the government to take action against those who are dangerous to Canadians (The IRGC). To Moshen and others what the Liberals have done amounts to word salad and whatever actions they have taken have not been tangible.

To add to this point I spoke to one of the speakers, Salman Sima, a former political prisoner in Iran, about the actions of the Liberal Party. In terms of the “shame” that Trudeau should feel for the “games” he played Sima elaborated:

When the revolution started did not do what he promised to in 2018 and list the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under the criminal code, instead, he said he is going to put in 10 00 new sanctions under the Immigrant and Refugee Protection Act which has no power internationally. Also, who are these 10 000? There is no Khamenei (the Supreme Leader), no Raisi (current president), not my judge Salavati (known in Iran as the Hanging Judge) so who are we sanctioning? And every time we protest and the Mainstream media gives us attention he announces someone new is going on the list, like an IRGC commander. But how come that important commander wasn’t on the list of 10 000? He thinks we are stupid.

This was a very common theme among the protesters. They are tired of empty words from the Prime Minister, they want the government to simply do what it promised to in 2018, and if they did then maybe the IRGC would not have shot down flight PS752. 

One of the more interesting stories at the event came from Catherina Lukashova, who is both Iranian and Ukrainian. Catherina’s family was made refugees 44 years ago when the Islamic Republic came to power in Iran and her family moved to Ukraine, where both of her parents are trapped now, as they are too old to make the journey to the border on foot.  She shared the same criticisms of the Liberal policy as Salman and Moshen on Iran, but it is doubly infuriating as Trudeau has done the same empty promises on Ukraine. Trudeau talks a good game when it comes to Russia but there is no action. Putin is not under sanction and Canada has not expelled any Russian diplomats over a year into the conflict.

Foreign policy may not be a top priority for many people, but as recent history has shown the world’s problems are no longer isolated, and sticking your head in the sand and offering up some vapid platitudes about diversity will not keep Canadians safe. The Liberals have already shown that they are vulnerable to foreign interference by a dedicated CCP operation, why would the IRGC or FSB not be trying the exact same thing? The hostile foreign government is Canada’s problem and the current perception is that our government is a sleep at the wheel and they just don’t care that we are speeding off a cliff.