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Canada should sanction Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, say MPs and human rights activists
OTTAWA — Members of Parliament and human rights activists are demanding Canada do more to put pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran, including sanctioning its supreme leader and increasing criminal investigations into perpetrators of the regime.
“We need to name and shame the perpetrators,” said Brandon Silver, director of policy and projects at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. “It stands out that the architect of all of this repression, Ayatollah Khamenei, is not on Canada’s sanctions list.”
Silver was joined by Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar, Liberal MP Judy Sgro, Independent Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne and Iranian Canadian human rights activist Nazanin Afshin-Jam MacKay, who are calling on Canada to encourage allies to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity and to advance investigations into perpetrators of crime and human rights violations committed in Iran.
Silver said this would mean a “structural investigation” that would have the RCMP assemble evidence against Canadian residents taking part in war crimes and atrocities.
“We must go beyond issuing statements, we must act,” said Afshin-Jam MacKay. “This means supporting independent international investigations and treating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization in practice, not just in name.”
The call to action comes after a severe crackdown by the Iranian regime against the country’s widespread anti-government protests last month that has left thousands of Iranians dead.
In 2024, the Canadian government listed the IRGC as a terrorist group under Canada’s Criminal Code. The European Union foreign ministers have agreed to list the IRGC as a terrorist group last week, but the United Kingdom has made no commitment.
The Canadian government has sanctioned 210 Iranian individuals and 254 Iranian entities, with Canada severing diplomatic ties with Iran back in 2012.
The IRGC designation has only resulted in one deportation so far, according to Afshin-Jam MacKay, who said the Iranian-Canadian community has been disappointed with the enforcement and would like to see more of these individuals prosecuted for their crimes.
“It is very frustrating as Iranians to be walking the streets and see our oppressors alongside with us and having no real tools to put them behind bars, even though we’ve reported many of them,” she said. “We see them at our local gyms, we see their sons and daughters spending millions of dollars in expensive houses, cars, living lavish lifestyles, while our people back home can’t afford even a loaf of bread.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has not ruled out taking military action in Iran, moving several U.S. military assets to the region. Iran’s supreme leader has warned of wider conflict if the U.S. decides to strike.
“This is a moment, perhaps as significant as the Berlin Wall falling itself,” said Majumdar. “Can you imagine for a moment what a world of peace might look like if we listen to the call of the Iranian people, of whom tens of thousands have now been brutally massacred?”
Sgro said there has been extensive work in tracking down individuals for deportation and there are active court cases but acknowledged there was more to do.
National Post
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