B’nai Brith Canada is taking legal action against the Canadian government over not designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group following a parliamentary motion, unanimously approved in the House of Commons in June 2018, that called on the government to do so.
The notice was served in federal court weeks last week after a Jan. 13 news conference leaders of B’nai Brith, the Council of Iranian Canadians and the Justice 88 Campaign called upon the government to implement the motion within 30 days.
After the deadline passed, B’nai Brith took the legal action.
“We made it clear last month that no further delays by the government would be accepted by Canadians,” said B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn in a statement. “Unfortunately, there is no alternative at this point to legal recourse. It is intolerable that 20 months have elapsed since this important motion passed, and no action has been taken by our government to implement it.”
Mostyn said “poses a very serious security threat to Canadians,” and that “listing it as a terrorist entity in this country is necessary to deter this threat and reduce its ability to do harm … our safety concerns are pragmatic, moral and urgent.”
“The government must act immediately, and our lawsuit aims to ensure this immediate action,” he said.
The IRGC was responsible for downing a plane in Iran last month that killed all passengers on board, including 57 Canadians and another 81 passengers who planned to proceed to Canada.
The United States designated the IRGC as a terrorist group in April 2019.
In 2012, Canada listed the IRGC’s Quds Force as a terrorist group.
