QUESTION PERIOD — Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Designation of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organization
April 9, 2019
Honourable senators, my question is also for the Government Leader. It concerns a motion which passed in the other place last June, which called upon the government to immediately designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a listed terrorist entity under the Criminal Code of Canada. Almost 10 months have passed and your government has still not listed the IRGC as a terrorist entity. Yesterday the United States announced it will formally designate the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization, taking effect next week.
In February, a delayed answer tabled in this chamber stated that government officials have been:
. . . examining the options available to the Government of Canada.
Senator Harder, what does this mean “examining the options”? Is it your government’s intention to act in accordance with the motion supported almost a year ago or not?
I thank the honourable senator for his question. I think it’s important for both legislatures to acknowledge, as the motion itself does, that foreign policy is the conduct of the government and that the views expressed by one house or the other is exactly that, the views of the house.
What the government has done and what the document that you reference in tabling the response to a written question is it continues to monitor and determine whether and when such action would be appropriate.
I would suggest that citing the decisions made by President Trump are not necessarily a high endorsement.
Well I don’t think whether it’s endorsed by President Trump or not is what is important. What is important is what the Government of Canada is going to do. The last time we had this discussion, you said they were examining the options. I have asked you this before and I didn’t get a straight answer, so where are we in this process? Are you examining the options? Has the Minister of Public Safety made a recommendation to cabinet? When do you expect that the IRGC will be listed as a terrorist entity?
The government is examining its options. When it has an announcement to make, it will make an announcement.
