Canada’s parliament unanimously passed a resolution on Wednesday designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity.
In a unanimous vote of 327 to 0, the House of Commons called on the government to add the IRGC to its official list of terrorist organizations and expel approximately 700 Iranian representatives operating in Canada. Under Section 83.05 of Canada’s Criminal Code, any group may be designated as a terrorist entity if there are “reasonable grounds” to believe it has engaged in or facilitated terrorist activity, or if it has acted on behalf of or in association with an entity involved in terrorist activity.
As per CBC News, the vote came to the floor following pressure from families of the victims of Flight PS752, which was shot down by the IRGC shortly after taking off from Tehran in January of 2020. All 176 passengers and crew members on board were killed in the crash, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.
Iranian officials initially denied any involvement in the plane’s downing, but later admitted that the IRGC had mistakenly shot down the aircraft amid heightened tensions with the United States. The tragic loss of PS752 occurred just hours after Iran launched missile attacks on US bases in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
