Canada\u2019s Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree says the federal government is taking an \u201caggressive\u201d approach toward individuals linked to Iran\u2019s regime who are living in Canada, even though only one person has been deported in the past three years.<\/p>\n
The comments come as tensions escalate globally following military strikes by United States and Israel against Iran, which have triggered retaliatory attacks and widened instability across the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Speaking on CTV\u2019s Question Period with host Vassy Kapelos, Anandasangaree said the government has a structured process to investigate and remove individuals found to be inadmissible due to connections with the Iranian regime.<\/p>\n
He said authorities are devoting significant resources to investigations and enforcement measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I can say is, and Canadians can be reassured of this, we have a process in place,\u201d Anandasangaree said. \u201cWe have investigations that are credible, that are not ad hoc, that we spend an enormous amount of resources into investigating.\u201d<\/p>\n
The issue has gained renewed attention amid safety concerns raised by members of Canada\u2019s Iranian diaspora. Earlier this month, gunshots were fired at a boxing gym in Toronto owned by an Iranian Canadian activist who has been a vocal critic of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.<\/p>\n
Canadian authorities have taken several steps to restrict individuals connected to the Iranian regime from entering or remaining in the country.<\/p>\n
Canada has designated the Iranian regime under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and has also listed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code of Canada.<\/p>\n
According to Anandasangaree, Canadian immigration authorities have rejected or cancelled 239 visa and document applications because of ties to the IRGC.<\/p>\n
Officials are currently reviewing about 270 cases involving individuals suspected of having connections with the organization. Of those, 32 have been identified as meeting the threshold for inadmissibility.<\/p>\n
The minister said that 28 of those individuals remain in Canada, four have left voluntarily, and one person has been deported.<\/p>\n
Anandasangaree explained that the ban does not apply to every person who has had any association with the IRGC. Instead, the restrictions mainly target senior officials from Iran\u2019s military, intelligence and government institutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will aggressively pursue every single individual who is deemed to be inadmissible based on their membership in the IRGC, and we will ensure that their removal is enforced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Canada introduced a policy that bars senior Iranian government officials from entering the country. The restrictions apply to individuals connected to Iran\u2019s government, intelligence agencies and the IRGC.<\/p>\n
Despite criticism over the limited number of deportations, Anandasangaree defended the system, saying the process includes strict legal safeguards to ensure fairness and compliance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m defending the process because it is robust,\u201d he said, adding that due process requirements can slow removal proceedings.<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s intelligence agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said the current threat level from Iran or its proxies in Canada remains unchanged despite the ongoing conflict overseas.<\/p>\n
The agency said the national threat level remains at \u201cmedium,\u201d meaning a violent extremist attack remains a realistic possibility.<\/p>\n
Security officials also noted that Iranian-linked threat activities have been disrupted in recent months, suggesting ongoing vigilance by Canadian authorities as geopolitical tensions continue to rise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Canada\u2019s Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree says the federal government is taking an \u201caggressive\u201d approach toward individuals linked to Iran\u2019s regime who are living in Canada, even though only one person has been deported in the past three years. The comments come as tensions escalate globally following military strikes by United States and Israel against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":14798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[113],"tags":[3672,15868,15870,15876,15873,15874,15869,15875,15871,15877,15872],"class_list":["post-14795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-amat","tag-canada-iranian-regime-deportations","tag-canada-irgc-terrorist-listing","tag-canada-sanctions-iranian-officials","tag-cbsa-iran-investigations","tag-csis-threat-level-canada-iran","tag-gary-anandasangaree-irgc-policy","tag-immigration-and-refugee-protection-act-iran-policy","tag-iranian-canadians-security-concerns","tag-irgc-canada-immigration-enforcement","tag-toronto-activist-gym-shooting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}