Celebrations in downtown Halifax mark fall of Iran's supreme leader
CBC
It’s been 31 years since Ziba Mashkori left her home country of Iran, and for the first time in a while, she says, she's hopeful about the future of the country.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, was killed in a U.S.-Israeli military attack on Saturday. He had been the country’s supreme leader since 1989.
Mashkori was one of more than 100 people in downtown Halifax on Sunday who celebrated his death with dances, chanting, music, and speeches. Many held flags of pre-revolutionary Iran, Israel, and the U.S., or held signs supporting Reza Pahlavi, son of Iran's last shah.
“Hope came to me," Mashkori said in an interview. "It rushed into my wings and I was just like, ‘I'm going to go back to Iran.'
"We just couldn't stay at home. We felt like we needed to be together for that moment.”
Mashkori said the fight is not over, however. The question of what will happen next is up in the air, with a succession plan already in effect, putting senior cleric Alireza Arafi as part of Iran's interim leadership council.
“Until we get to freedom every single day, we will remember all those souls that we lost, all those innocent bloods that were shed,” Mashkori said.
Mashkori left her home when she was only 19 years old because of what was happening in Iran.
She still has family in Iran she has not seen in years. Communicating with her loved ones back home is difficult because of frequent internet service disruptions.
“I remember what I lost for the past 31 years for being away from home, what was stolen from me personally," she said.
Despite the challenges getting in contact with her loved ones, she was able to reach a family member after seeing the strikes this weekend.
“My sister who lives in Tehran, she called me directly from her direct line and just saying very quick words, ‘We are OK, Everything is OK,’”
Soheila Hashemi, another Iranian and one of the organizers for this rally, said she wanted to show her happiness and also shed light on the situation.
She thanked U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the military action.
Two Ontario residents are urging the province to review and improve what they say is a "broken" system that's supposed to limit air pollution from big industries.
Politicians, prospectors and mining executives from across northern Ontario are in Toronto this week for the world's largest mining conference.
The City of Toronto is making drivers aware of an intersection closure in downtown Toronto beginning Monday.
A period of bitterly cold wind chills is expected overnight into Monday morning across Waterloo Region and Guelph.
Canada's seemingly breakneck effort to replace its aging submarine fleet hits an important milestone on Monday with the deadline for both the South Korean and German shipyards to submit their formal proposals in the more than $20-billion program.
Cheers rang through Springbank Park in London, Ont., on Sunday afternoon as dozens of local Iranians danced, chanted and waved flags to mark the death of Iran’s supreme leader, who was killed in a major strike.
Shayan Morshedi stayed awake, waiting for news from home, as the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Saturday.
It’s been 31 years since Ziba Mashkori left her home country of Iran, and for the first time in a while, she says, she's hopeful about the future of the country.
Conservationists are reporting that more alewife and blueback herring are returning to the St. Croix River after the removal of a hydroelectric dam two years ago.
Youth in Montreal's east end are more susceptible to social isolation, financial precarity and issues accessing higher education because of a lack of public transit services in the area, a recent report suggests.
Some Iranians living in Winnipeg continued celebrating throughout the weekend after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a joint attack launched by the U.S. and Israel.
The Regina Fire department and police say they found a man dead inside a Regina home while responding to an early morning house fire.
A snowmobiler has died in B.C.’s Interior after an avalanche in the Kootenay Pass area on Saturday, RCMP says, as forecasters warn hazardous conditions persist across the province.