Last week, it was publicly revealed that Canadian law enforcement had thwarted the Iranian government’s plot to assassinate Irwin Cotler. Mr. Cotler is a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and justly regarded as one of the world’s foremost human rights defenders and a tireless advocate in combatting antisemitism.
Iran’s Global Terror Network
This plot should come as little or no surprise to those familiar with Mr. Cotler’s work, including his relentless opposition to Iran’s repressive regime, and with the regime’s status as the world’s leading terrorist entity internationally and domestically.
It operates through its many proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and the Houthis, and through, among others, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and its Quds Force.
The plot directed against Mr. Cotler cannot be viewed in isolation.
A case in point. Just this past month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced federal charges in several indictments against at least 11 individuals arising out of thwarted IRGC-initiated plots to kill Iranian-American political activist Masih Alinejad, to arrange a mass shooting of Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka, and to assassinate two pro-Israel Jewish businessmen living in New York City, and president-elect Donald Trump. Alinejad, a journalist and leading figure in the Iranian women’s dissident movement, had allegedly already been the target of prior kidnapping and assassination schemes.
In May 2020, the U.S. State Department released its report entitled Iran’s Assassinations and Terrorist Activity Abroad. It set out 360 assassinations carried out in the name of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Canada’s Response to Iranian Terrorism
In 2012, Canada listed the IRGC’s Quds Force as a terrorist entity under our Criminal Code. It also designated the Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran) as a State Supporter of Terrorism under the State Immunity Act. This designation, which remains in place today, together with the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, allows victims to sue Iran, its terrorist agents, proxies and fellow perpetrators for losses or damages resulting from terrorist activities committed anywhere in the world. This year, Canada also listed, albeit belatedly, the IRGC as a terrorist entity.
In a published official response to Iran’s activities, Global Affairs Canada documents the regime’s longstanding history of abhorrent conduct, both domestically and internationally. As reflected in the response, the human rights situation remains dire within Iran. The regime has imposed extensive and systematic repression aiming at containing the legitimate aspirations of the Iranian people, including women and girls, ethnic and religious minorities, human rights defenders, and journalists. Its violent enforcement of mandatory veiling laws led to the tragic death of Jina Mahsa Amini on September 16, 2022, which sparked global protests under the banner “Women, Life, Freedom.” In response to mass-protests, Iran violently cracked down with brutal force, arrests and executions. (Indeed, staggering numbers of Iranians have been executed in recent years. Ebrahim Raisi, former President of Iran, who died in a 2024 helicopter crash, earned himself the nickname, “Butcher of Tehran” for his involved in the execution of thousands of Iranian political prisoners.)
In its official response, Canada also describes Iran’s contribution to regional destabilization through a network of aligned armed groups, including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Iran-aligned militias in Iraq and Syria. Iran’s support for these groups includes funding, the provision of arms and training.
Iran and the United Nations
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran released a report in March 2024, affirming that Iranian authorities had committed egregious human rights violations, including unlawful deaths, extra-judicial executions, disproportionate force, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and ill-treatment, rape and sexual violence, enforced disappearances and gender prosecution. Arrests, torture, and judicially-sanctioned murders of Iranian dissidents continue unabated.
And earlier this week, the UN Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee approved a draft resolution, “Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” that would have the General Assembly condemn the alarming increase in the application of the death penalty by Iran, in violation of its international obligations, including on the basis of forced confessions, and without fair trial and due process.
Canada’s delegate, who introduced the draft, described Iran’s blatant disregard for human life, noting that “Tehran uses the death penalty against people exercising their right to freedom of expression, opinion and peaceful assembly. Moreover, ethnic minorities and women are increasingly being handed down the death penalty,” asserting that “This can no longer continue.”
I do not cite the UN draft resolution out of any sense of confidence that the UN will take meaningful steps to address Iran’s reign of terror. In November 2023, the Islamic Republic of Iran was elected as Chair of the United Nations Human Rights Council Social Forum. This election prompted UN Watch to ask, “how can you elevate a regime that beats, blinds, tortures and rapes women who demand their rights? Where is the logic? Where is the morality?”
And then, in March 2024, the presidency of the UN Conference on Disarmament was handed over to the same regime. These appointments should tell us everything we need to know, as if worldwide Jewry needs any further proof, about the UN’s ability or inclination to end Iranian terror domestically and internationally. I merely cite the draft resolution as further proof that the Canadian government and Canadians more generally can have no illusions about what the Islamic Republic of Iran stands for.
And I haven’t even addressed the rape, torture and murder of Iranian-Canadian freelance photojournalist, Zahra Kazemi in 2003, and the sordid tale of Iran’s lack of accountability for her death. Or the 2020 downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 by two Iranian surface-to-air missiles, killing 176 people, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents. Or the prolonged efforts on behalf of Canada and affected families to hold Iran accountable for its violations of international law. Or efforts on Iran’s part to intimidate and harass the families of Iranians, here and in Iran, who have sought that accountability.
And yet...
The vast majority of Canadians remain uninformed about the full extent of Iran’s complicity in terrorism, and more importantly, its impact on Canadians.
And yet...
A significant number of anti-Israel protestors are more than willing to be aligned with this terror state and its agents and proxies operating here in Canada.
Case in point. At about 4 pm EST, on April 13, 2024, Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles against Israel. This was Iran’s first direct attack on Israel’s homeland. Iran's proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and the Houthis had done the lion’s share of its dirty work up to then. In Canada, the news of this attack was greeted with celebratory demonstrations, one captured in a 44-second video taken by Caryma Sa’d, a frequent chronicler of protests. The demonstrators are shown cheering, beating drums and lighting smoke bombs as the attack was announced.
As reported by the National Post, the celebrations continued the following day, when video on Ottawa4Palestine’s Instagram account showed an Ottawa demonstrator singing a song that included, “leave Palestine alone and Jews go back to Europe.” A video in Montreal showed demonstrators chanting “Put the bullet in the house of fire … we are your men, Sinwar.” A Calgary video clip showed a man at the edge of an anti-Israel rally holding a portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khameini and holding his arm in a fascist salute.
Of course, these celebrations were chillingly similar to those that immediately followed the October 7 massacres. And to those that followed Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. In the latter instance, chants included, “Yemen, Yemen, make us proud.” Turn another ship around.” The Houthis ostensibly “making [them] proud” rally under a slogan that states (as translated): “God is the Greatest. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse be Upon the Jews. Victory to Islam.”
Iran’s Influence on Canadian Society
This year, Charlotte Kates, leader of Samidoun, recently designated as a terrorist group in Canada and the United States, took time from her busy schedule of hatemongering, to travel to Iran. There, she received a “human rights” award from the Iranian government (just another indication how theatre of the absurd dominates international morality), appeared on Iranian television to glowingly endorse the October 7 massacres, and was lauded by the head of Iran’s judiciary, himself complicit in the gross human rights violations earlier described.
Again, this connection between a terrorist group operating in Canada and the Iranian regime should surprise no one. Evidence has emerged that Iran was behind the campus protests at McGill University. Analysts at cyber security company XPOZ, used AI technology “to unmask the networks and campaigns behind ‘inauthentic’ users interacting on a large scale.” In an August 2024 report by Canadian-Iranian journalist, Negar Mojtahedi, she describes the analysts’ work:
What they found was that there was a high percentage of inauthentic accounts primarily written in Farsi, coming from Iranians inside Iran linked to the regime and IRGC, fueling the campus protests at McGill. "The primary takeaway is that there is a massive activity, funded, coordinated and organized by a foreign government that is influencing Canadians in Canada and driving incitement to violence and real-world activity,” said the XPOZ analysts. Their analysis reveals 60 percent of Pro-Palestine campus protestors were not authentic online users. The data indicates the presence of coordinated Farsi speaking accounts, suggesting a targeted campaign. The data drew on nearly 150,000 posts on X, over 500,000 likes and more than 65,000 comments.
The analysts acknowledged that their data does not identify whether protestors are aware of or unaware of Iran’s alleged role. But the point here is that the "network" driving the McGill protests (and likely many others) is promoting narratives supporting the IRGC and the Iranian regime, while disseminating rhetoric against Israel and the U.S.
This data appears to demonstrate that Canada is subject to the use of deceptive mass influence campaigns, in this instance, coordinated by Iran, to target Canadian society through proxies.
Joel Finkelstein, the co-founder of the Network Contagion Research Institute, acknowledged that “the claims being made by the research may be hard to determine in specificity, but are largely uncontroversial in terms of broader trends.” He told the National Post that “Based on our data, these assertions align with observed trends and are credible.”
Michael Bonner, senior fellow with the Aristotle Foundation for Public policy, added that “Iranian intelligence now targets Western domestic culture and political weaknesses and inflames them, as we saw in recent protests.”
These findings resonate generally with government reports on point. Canada has cautioned that “foreign interference, enabled by sophisticated cyber tools, poses one of the most serious threats to Canadian’s national security, economic prosperity and sovereignty, as well as our way of life.” In its annual report, CSIS highlighted the cyber-attacks by the Iranian regime that target Canada. CSIS also indicated that “officials from Iran are likely monitoring, influencing, and collecting information on the Iranian diaspora community in Canada as part of its efforts to prevent criticism of the regime.” It also observed that Iran seeks to silence Canada-based critics through harassment and intimidation, including Canada-based families of several victims of the downing of Flight PS752.
Following several months of often violent pro-Hamas protests across the United States, Avril Haines, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence stated earlier this year that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been encouraging and funding some of these demonstrations. She indicated that the regime has “become increasingly aggressive in their foreign influence efforts” and has “sought to opportunistically take advantage of ongoing protests regarding the war in Gaza.” Her agency has “observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to protestors.”
A Wake-Up Call for Canadians
So returning, where we started, to the plot against Irwin Cotler, will it amount to a wake-up call for Canadians to ask the following questions among others?
To what extent do IRGC and Quds Force continue to operate in Canada?
Are Canada’s law enforcement agencies doing enough to address any continuing operations?
To what extent are anti-Israel/pro-Hamas protests being funded/influenced by foreign rogue states, such as Iran?
To what extent are such rogue states utilizing disinformation to advance their agendas?
To what extent are terrorist groups money laundering in Canada to support their activities here and abroad?
To what extent are terrorist groups such as Samidoun operating through proxies, to disguise their continuing unlawful activities?
What measures will the Canadian government now take to address, in a comprehensive and systematic way, the activities of extremists in Canada?
Canadian law enforcement should, of course, be commended for thwarting the plot directed against Irwin Cotler. However, the presence of substantial numbers of IRGC agents in Canada, described in a variety of news reports and by the Iranian diaspora community, raise critically important questions about Canada’s effectiveness in addressing their activities, especially given the years of delay in designating IRGC as a terrorist group.
I recognize that national security interests prevent public disclosure of certain categories of intelligence possessed by Canadian law enforcement. But the apparent impunity with which Iran continues to influence and misinform Canadians does not inspire confidence that we are doing all we can to address foreign-influenced extremism. Nor does the reluctance of authorities to charge protestors who have clearly crossed any threshold of protected speech by advocating violence and support for designated terrorist entities auger well, if uncorrected, for our national security.
On a personal note, I have known Irwin Cotler to be a champion for human rights for many years. I was privileged to work as a law student on a project inspired by him, and to appear alongside him as a co-intervener in the Supreme Court of Canada when Canada’s hate speech criminal legislation withstood constitutional challenge. He was Canada’s Minister of Justice when the late Honourable Fred Kaufman and I presented a massive multi-volume report he commissioned on the potential wrongful conviction of Stephen Truscott. As I recently remarked to him, I was certainly surprised that he had obviously read every page of this report – admittedly, not our expectation at the time – and his insightful probing ultimately led to his decision to refer this case back to the Ontario Court of Appeal where the conviction was set aside.
For me, and for so many people around the world touched by him, Mr. Cotler represents one of Canada’s treasures. It was appropriate that MPs in the House of Commons unanimously supported a Bloc Québécois motion saluting his human rights work, recognizing his political contributions and condemning the death threats orchestrated by agents of a foreign regime.
While unanimous support for the motion was commendable, it must also be remembered that a critical part of Mr. Cotler’s life work has been in service of Israel’s right to exist. He has never sought to immunize Israel from robust criticism. He has never ignored the plight of the Palestinian people. Instead, he has fought for international justice, including recognition that modern antisemitism often involves the demonization and delegitimization of Israel, and the application of double standards to the assessment of Israel’s conduct. Some of the parliamentarians who supported the Bloc’s motion might have been wise to remember that they have been complicit in urging Canada to adopt the very double standards he has fought against. They might also reflect upon how they have done little to prevent the demonization of Israel and Canada’s Jewish community that overwhelmingly supports Israel.
It is not too late for all MPs to come together to combat antisemitism, reject extremism on our streets and in our campuses and contribute to a culture of respectful dialogue that will ultimately advance the interests of all Canadians and all those who wish to live in peace and security in the Middle East.
About the Author
Mark Sandler, LL.B., LL.D. (honoris causa), ALCCA’s Chair, is widely recognized as one of Canada’s leading criminal lawyers and pro bono advocates. He has been involved in combatting antisemitism for over 40 years. He has lectured extensively on legal remedies to combat hate and has promoted respectful Muslim-Jewish, Sikh-Jewish and Black-Jewish dialogues. He has appeared before Parliamentary committees and in the Supreme Court of Canada on multiple occasions on issues relating to antisemitism and hate activities. He is a former member of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, a three-time elected Bencher of the Law Society of Ontario, and recipient of the criminal profession’s highest honour, the G. Arthur Martin Medal, for his contributions to the administration of criminal justice.