Politics

    • Canada not ruling out terrorist designation for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: Joly

    The federal government has not ruled out adding Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to its formal list of terrorist entities.

    When pressed repeatedly on why the IRGC has not been classified as a terrorist entity, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly wouldn’t say, but told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in an interview airing Sunday that the federal government has to “have the right tools to address this issue.”

    “I think that we have to work on the best tools to do it. I think that we have to, meanwhile, continue to assure the protection of our diplomats or military … in the region,” Joly said.

    While Canada considers Hamas a terrorist entity, it has not extended the same designation to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces. The U.S. State Department recently highlighted Iran’s funding and arming of Hamas while levying sanctions.

    “It is also very important that Hamas lay down its weapons,” Joly also said. “That's also part of our approach when it comes to Hamas. When it comes to Iran, we know that Iran is a state sponsor of terror, because there are clear links between their different proxies, including of course, we know, Hamas.”

    “That being said, we have one of the most stringent and tough approaches in the world when it comes to Iran,” she added, pointing to specific members and a branch of the IRGC being on the terrorist organization list, plus sanctions against other Iranian officials and entities.

    And while the IRGC as a whole is not on Canada’s list of terrorist organizations, its “clandestine” branch, the Corps’ Quds Force, is.

    “But I'm committed to working particularly with the Iranian community and particularly also with the PS752 families, which I've been in touch with a lot on this issue, because I know that the community is fearful of the IRGC,” Joly also said.

    The IRGC shot down Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 in January 2020, and the families of the victims have called on the Canadian government to add the IRGC to its list of terrorist entities ever since.

    There have been renewed calls to do so since the Oct. 7 attacks, including from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. Several members of the United States Congress also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week urging the Canadian government to designate the IRGC a terrorist entity.

    The United States did so in 2019 under the Trump administration and in May 2022, current U.S. President Joe Biden decided to maintain the designation.

    In 2018, Joly voted in favour of an opposition motion in the House of Commons to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization under the Criminal Code, but the federal government has yet to do so.

    Now, Joly says she’s been working with “key Iranian community leaders” in Canada on the issue, and that “we’ll do more in the coming year.”

    When asked whether her comment about ensuring the “protection of our diplomats, (and) our military,” means she is concerned about retaliation from Iran if Canada designates the IRGC a terrorist entity, Joly said she “can’t comment on that.”

    “But what I can tell you when it comes to diplomacy, reciprocity is always an issue,” she added. “That being said, what I can tell you is we have to have the right tools to address this issue, and I'm committed to working with Public Security and Justice on developing the right tools.”

    Joly also said Canada has “done a lot” when it comes to the IRGC, “but we can do more, and we’ll do more.”

    “So I’ll have more to say in the coming weeks,” she said.

    When Kapelos asked again whether that means the terrorist entity designation is possible, Joly said the federal government will be “working with the community on this.”

    “And I think that we have to be creative to develop new approaches and new tools that would permit government to do what is needed,” she said.

    Joly in her interview also discussed whether she believes Israel has breached international humanitarian law in its response to the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas, and whether she believes a two-state solution is possible in the region.

    Watch the full interview on CTV’s Question Period Sunday at 11 a.m. ET.

    With files from CTVNews.ca’s Senior Digital Parliamentary Reporter Rachel Aiello

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