Canada to list Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as terrorist group after years of pressure

The federal government is preparing to list Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization under Canada's Criminal Code after mounting pressure, CBC News has learned.

Multiple sources with knowledge of internal government discussions say an announcement is expected as early as this week. Discussions are still ongoing and details not finalized, they said.

Once a group is placed on the country's terror list, police can charge anyone who financially or materially supports the group and banks can freeze its assets.

The IRGC is a branch of the Iranian armed forces that answers directly to Iran's supreme leader. The IRGC shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 above the skies of Tehran in January 2020, killing 175 passengers, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.

This latest development comes after years of pressure on the federal government to list the IRGC.

The association representing family members of Flight PS752 victims, members of the Iranian Canadian community, the Conservative Party and the NDP have all called on the government to designate the entire militia group as a terrorist entity. MPs voted unanimously last month to do so.

Hamed Esmaeilion, a board member with the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims, said the families are "happy to hear" the government is moving forward with this designation after they demanded it at every rally and event they held over the past four years.

"It has been a long journey. Long and painful," said Esmaeilon, who lost his daughter and wife on Flight PS752.  "It's very important to punish those people or those organizations that were involved in atrocities against Canadians and Iranians.

Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong said his party has been calling on the government to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization for six years, ever since the House of Commons first adopted a Conservative opposition motion to do so in 2018. 

"Because of the government's inaction over the last six years, the Iranian regime's capabilities here in North American have only increased," Chong said Wednesday. "The government is only taking action now because of recent reports outlining that increased capacity by the Iranian regime."

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre renewed his calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to list the IRGC as a terrorist entity after Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed an estimated 1,200 people, according to Israeli government estimates.

Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist organization, is also a member of a Tehran-backed alliance of militant groups in the Middle East known as the "Axis of Resistance."

After years of resistence by the government, Trudeau told victims' families at a ceremony on the fourth anniversary of the destruction of the plane that his government was looking at ways to "responsibly" move forward with that designation.

"We know there is more to do to hold the regime to account and we will continue our work, including continuing to look for ways to responsibly list the IRGC as a terrorist organization," the prime minister said on Jan. 8.