Canada designates Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as terrorist entity

Canada is designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, as a terrorist organization under this country’s Criminal Code, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced.

This will affect the organization’s ability to raise funds or own property in Canada but will also restrict entry into the country by those who have served in the organization.

Thousands of senior Iranian government officials are now banned from entering the country and those already inside Canada may be investigated and removed, Mr. LeBlanc said.

“This action sends a strong message that Canada will use all of the tools at its disposal to combat the terrorist entity of the IRGC,” Mr. LeBlanc said. “The Iranian regime has consistently displayed disregard for human rights both inside and outside of Iran, as well as a willingness to destabilize the international rules based order. Our government will ensure that there is no immunity for Iran’s unlawful actions and its support of terrorism. “

The U.S. designated the IRGC a terrorist organization in 2019. Canada’s Senate passed a nonbinding motion in 2018 calling on the government to do the same, building on a similar resolution passed that year by the House of Commons.

The Liberal government had resisted labelling the guard corps a terrorist organization for years.

In 2023, then-justice minister David Lametti argued that military service in Iran is mandatory, so designating the IRGC as a terrorist entity could target innocent people, not just its leaders.

But in January, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said the Canadian government was looking at ways to “responsibly” apply the designation. His comments came four years after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down commercial flight Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, killing all 176 people on board, including about 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, whose party had been urging the terrorist designation for years, accused Mr. Trudeau of timing the measure to coincide with a closely-watched Toronto byelection set for June 24. The Liberals are trying to retain the riding of Toronto-St. Paul’s, normally a party stronghold seat, despite trailing the Conservatives in the polls.

Data from the 2021 census shows more than 15 per cent of the riding’s population identify as Jewish.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) immediately welcomed Ottawa’s action on the IRGC Wednesday, with president Shimon Koffler Fogel saying “the Canadian Jewish community has persistently called for this decisive action against the IRGC, recognizing its role in promoting violence and instability globally, including through its support for terrorist groups targeting Jews” and others.

“It took a byelection for the Prime Minister to change his mind,” Mr. Poilievre said during Question Period.

Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong and Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman said Canada’s delay in designating the Revolutionary Guard as terrorists have allowed the group to “fundraise, recruit and operate in Canada,” including harassing and terrorising countless Iranian-Canadians who fled to this country to escape the Iranian regime.

The Wall Street Journal reported in 2023 that Hamas fighters trained in Iran before the group’s deadly attack on Israel Oct. 7. Mr. Chong and Ms. Lantsman noted that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard “openly declared their support for organizations that are already listed as terrorist organizations in Canada like Hezbollah and Hamas.”