Latest news with #Iranian-Canadian
The Province
19 hours ago
- Politics
- The Province
Canada's borders dangerously vulnerable to spies and agents of Iranian regime, Vancouver lawyer says
Douglas Todd: "A lot of people against the (Iranian) regime in Canada never speak up because the regime has their mom, or aunt, or brother or husband in Iran," says Ram Joubin. Iran has become the second highest source country of refugee claims to Canada. The Ayatollah Ali Khameini, pictured, remains in power, despite outside military attacks and wide internal opposition. Photo by - / AFP via Getty Images The war-torn theocratic nation of Iran has become the second highest source country of refugee claims to Canada (after India). This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Last year, more than 6,600 people from the Persian Gulf country submitted asylum requests. The volume of applicants from the Islamic Republic of Iran, also known as Persia, is a red flag to human-rights activists who worry Canada might inadvertently take in some applicants with close ties to the country's brutally repressive regime. Metro Vancouver immigration lawyer Ram Joubin, an Iranian-Canadian who specializes in refugee and human-rights law, said he frequently rejects potential clients from Iran because they have a suspicious past, a sign of links to Iran's autocratic rulers. 'The concern is that some people from Iran are using the refugee system to come here to actually spy on Canadians,' Joubin said this week. 'I have to drop them as clients or refund them. But I'm not allowed to tell the police because of client confidentiality.' Stay on top of the latest real estate news and home design trends. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. There are roughly 280,000 people of Iranian origin in Canada. Joubin said the vast majority oppose the despots of Iran, but he's convinced there are some who act as agents of the nation's authoritarian leaders. Those regime-friendly 'bad actors,' he said, are ready to denounce or turn in other Iranian Canadians who speak out against the country's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei . Given the intimidation, Joubin said, most Iranian Canadians are silent. 'The main mechanism of control is fear — in Iran and outside of Iran. A lot of people against the regime in Canada never speak up because the regime has their mom, or aunt, or brother, or husband in Iran. The regime uses that to intimidate people into silence,' said Joubin, who has worked with the Alliance of Iranian Canadians, helped organize Women Lack Freedom and supported British-American novelist Salman Rushdie after he was stabbed in 2022 by a Muslim militant. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Joubin made his comments in the midst of a ceasefire in the 12-day war that ignited last month between the Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel and the U.S. After both Israel and the U.S. attacked Iranian military targets, and Iran retaliated, political alliances are again shifting in the troubled Middle East and West Asia. But the Ayatollah has managed to hold on to power. A Leger opinion poll in June found that 43 per cent of Canadians don't favour accepting more migrants from besieged Iran. Respondents were asked: 'Should Canada take in migrants from Iran who wish to flee the country?' Forty-three per cent said no, compared with 27 per cent who said yes. The rest were undecided. Canadians are concerned 'about loopholes in the system' that allow in 'bad actors,' says immigration lawyer Ram Joubin. Photo by Mark Hamilton Last year, Canada, following a sudden surge, also accepted 41,740 people from Iran through a guest worker category called the international mobility program, according to Jack Jedwab, head of Montreal's Association for Canadian Studies and the Metropolis Institute. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In light of Iran being the second largest source of asylum claims to Canada and third most important source of temporary migrants, Jedwab said the recent Leger survey 'pointed to evidence of Canadians supporting greater vigilance when it comes to such admissions.' Joubin doesn't believe the lack of support for bringing in more Iranian migrants is based on racial intolerance — although Iran's hardline leaders insist that it is. 'It's about practical issues such as price inflation and loopholes in the system over Canada being too friendly to bad actors,' he said. 'I think it's important that Canada does protect its borders and the integrity of its refugee and migration system.' Joubin believes it's becoming too easy to claim refugee status. Muslims from Iran, for instance, can obtain a baptismal certificate from a Christian church in Canada to try to convince a hearing panel that they would be persecuted if they went back to Iran, he said, since such religious conversions are illegal in that country. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Joubin added that Canada's investor immigrant programs are particularly vulnerable to those who have made their fortunes embezzling from Iran's government and state-owned corporations. 'Iran probably has a record high number of embezzlements in the whole world. Oil funds are embezzled. The social security system is embezzled. Government banks and retirement funds are embezzled,' he said. And some illicit money ends up laundered in Canada, Joubin believes, through currency exchanges. 'Some of those currency exchanges are finally being outed by the police in Canada,' he said. More than 47,000 Iranians came to Canada in 2023 under the guest worker program known as IMP. Another 41,740 arrived last year. Iranian Canadians tend to live in Canada's major urban areas, including 97,000 in the Toronto region, 46,000 in Greater Vancouver and 23,000 in wider Montreal. In the North Shore neighbourhoods of Ambleside and Capilano, Persian Canadians make up one-in-four residents. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The fervent hope of Joubin, who no longer has family ties in Iran, is more Iranian Canadians could become a more effective voice for changing the Iranian regime. 'The regime is weaker now and there is a vacuum and it has to be filled,' he said. 'Almost everyone is anti-regime,' he said, but most don't want a government installed from the outside by Israel or the U.S. The trouble is that recent uprisings in Iran haven't succeeded, he said. Reformers have been executed. 'That means many people won't come forward until it's more safe.' dtodd@ Read More Vancouver Canucks Sports Vancouver Canucks Crime Local News
Vancouver Sun
6 days ago
- Politics
- Vancouver Sun
Canada's borders dangerously vulnerable to spies and agents of Iranian regime, Vancouver lawyer says
The war-torn theocratic nation of Iran has become the second highest source country of refugee claims to Canada (after India). Last year, more than 6,600 people from the Persian Gulf country submitted asylum requests. The volume of applicants from the Islamic Republic of Iran, also known as Persia, is a red flag to human-rights activists who worry Canada might inadvertently take in some applicants with close ties to the country's brutally repressive regime. Metro Vancouver immigration lawyer Ram Joubin, an Iranian-Canadian who specializes in refugee and human-rights law, said he frequently rejects potential clients from Iran because they have a suspicious past, a sign of links to Iran's autocratic rulers. Stay on top of the latest real estate news and home design trends. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Westcoast Homes will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'The concern is that some people from Iran are using the refugee system to come here to actually spy on Canadians,' Joubin said this week. 'I have to drop them as clients or refund them. But I'm not allowed to tell the police because of client confidentiality.' There are roughly 280,000 people of Iranian origin in Canada. Joubin said the vast majority oppose the despots of Iran, but he's convinced there are some who act as agents of the nation's authoritarian leaders. Those regime-friendly 'bad actors,' he said, are ready to denounce or turn in other Iranian Canadians who speak out against the country's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei . Given the intimidation, Joubin said, most Iranian Canadians are silent. 'The main mechanism of control is fear — in Iran and outside of Iran. A lot of people against the regime in Canada never speak up because the regime has their mom, or aunt, or brother, or husband in Iran. The regime uses that to intimidate people into silence,' said Joubin , who has worked with the Alliance of Iranian Canadians, helped organize Women Lack Freedom and supported British-American novelist Salman Rushdie after he was stabbed in 2022 by a Muslim militant. Joubin made his comments in the midst of a ceasefire in the 12-day war that ignited last month between the Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel and the U.S. After both Israel and the U.S. attacked Iranian military targets, and Iran retaliated, political alliances are again shifting in the troubled Middle East and West Asia. But the Ayatollah has managed to hold on to power. A Leger opinion poll in June found that 43 per cent of Canadians don't favour accepting more migrants from besieged Iran. Respondents were asked: 'Should Canada take in migrants from Iran who wish to flee the country?' Forty-three per cent said no, compared with 27 per cent who said yes. The rest were undecided. Last year, Canada, following a sudden surge, also accepted 41,740 people from Iran through a guest worker category called the international mobility program, according to Jack Jedwab, head of Montreal's Association for Canadian Studies and the Metropolis Institute. In light of Iran being the second largest source of asylum claims to Canada and third most important source of temporary migrants, Jedwab said the recent Leger survey 'pointed to evidence of Canadians supporting greater vigilance when it comes to such admissions.' Joubin doesn't believe the lack of support for bringing in more Iranian migrants is based on racial intolerance — although Iran's hardline leaders insist that it is. 'It's about practical issues such as price inflation and loopholes in the system over Canada being too friendly to bad actors,' he said. 'I think it's important that Canada does protect its borders and the integrity of its refugee and migration system.' Joubin believes it's becoming too easy to claim refugee status. Muslims from Iran, for instance, can obtain a baptismal certificate from a Christian church in Canada to try to convince a hearing panel that they would be persecuted if they went back to Iran, he said, since such religious conversions are illegal in that country. Joubin added that Canada's investor immigrant programs are particularly vulnerable to those who have made their fortunes embezzling from Iran's government and state-owned corporations. 'Iran probably has a record high number of embezzlements in the whole world. Oil funds are embezzled. The social security system is embezzled. Government banks and retirement funds are embezzled,' he said. And some illicit money ends up laundered in Canada, Joubin believes, through currency exchanges . 'Some of those currency exchanges are finally being outed by the police in Canada,' he said. Iranian Canadians tend to live in Canada's major urban areas, including 97,000 in the Toronto region, 46,000 in Greater Vancouver and 23,000 in wider Montreal. In the North Shore neighbourhoods of Ambleside and Capilano , Persian Canadians make up one-in-four residents. The fervent hope of Joubin, who no longer has family ties in Iran, is more Iranian Canadians could become a more effective voice for changing the Iranian regime. 'The regime is weaker now and there is a vacuum and it has to be filled,' he said. 'Almost everyone is anti-regime,' he said, but most don't want a government installed from the outside by Israel or the U.S. The trouble is that recent uprisings in Iran haven't succeeded, he said. Reformers have been executed. 'That means many people won't come forward until it's more safe.' dtodd@
Edmonton Journal
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Edmonton Journal
Toronto's vibrant Pride parade to cap off weekend of celebrations, marches
Article content TORONTO — Artin Avaznia says he was transformed the first time he saw a group of Iranians marching in Toronto's Pride parade. The Iranian-Canadian dancer was in his mid-20s and it was his first time attending North America's largest Pride festival. It was a stark contrast to what he'd seen in his hometown of Ottawa, which he described as a 'small, very government city' that was lacking in large-scale queer representation at the time.
Vancouver Sun
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Vancouver Sun
Toronto's vibrant Pride parade to cap off weekend of celebrations, marches
TORONTO — Artin Avaznia says he was transformed the first time he saw a group of Iranians marching in Toronto's Pride parade. The Iranian-Canadian dancer was in his mid-20s and it was his first time attending North America's largest Pride festival. It was a stark contrast to what he'd seen in his hometown of Ottawa, which he described as a 'small, very government city' that was lacking in large-scale queer representation at the time. 'Seeing that brought tears to my eyes,' Avaznia said in an interview ahead of a performance at the Pride festival on Friday. 'I never witnessed that before, seeing representation of not just Iranians but the broader Middle Eastern folks, just because (being) queer and Middle Eastern doesn't always go so well together.' Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Avaznia said experiencing his first Pride in the city was 'monumental, seeing so many other queer folks of all different ethnicities and backgrounds.' This weekend will feature street parties, musical performances, picnics and marches before the festival culminates in the vibrant Pride parade on Sunday. More than 25,000 marchers from some 250 groups are expected to participate in the weekend's biggest show of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. The last weekend of Pride month and the parade drew a large number of visitors. Toronto police say they will increase their presence throughout the city and in the Church-Wellesley Village _ the hub of Pride activities — to ensure everyone's safety. 'So many folks during this month feel seen, they feel protected, they feel heard and they feel they belong,' said Avaznia, who credits his own career momentum to Pride. But this year, the celebrations and the spectacle also come with questions about what the future of Pride Toronto will look like after major corporate sponsors pulled out of the festival. Earlier this month, Pride Toronto said it's facing a $900,000 funding gap due to withdrawals of big sponsors such as Google, Nissan, Home Depot and Clorox, and rising costs of running the festival. Pride Toronto executive director Kojo Modeste attributed the corporate withdrawals to backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States under President Donald Trump's administration. Some of the companies said their decisions were solely based on budgetary considerations, and Google said its employees will still march in Sunday's parade. Modeste has said that next year's Pride festival will likely be scaled down as a result of the shortfall if the organization does not get the support it needs to stay afloat. A scaled down Pride could jeopardize the festival's status as one of the largest Pride celebrations in the world, Modeste warned. For Avaznia, shifting corporate sponsorship doesn't mean Pride won't continue to be a beacon of hope for members of the queer community and those who flock to Toronto annually to feel a sense of belonging. Instead, he said, the changes highlight which brands are invested in supporting Pride for the right reasons. 'Certain sponsors do genuinely want to support and the ones that I've partnered up with have shown to me their true colours and how much they want to support us. Other sponsors that have pulled out … are also showing their true colours,' he said. 'Queer folks have dealt with a tremendous amount of adversities in their lives. A lot of us have dealt with housing issues, we've dealt with the loss of family, we dealt with substance issues,' he said. 'But we will always rise and we will always come forward.' Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
Hamilton Spectator
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Toronto's vibrant Pride parade to cap off weekend of celebrations, marches
TORONTO - Artin Avaznia says he was transformed the first time he saw a group of Iranians marching in Toronto's Pride parade. The Iranian-Canadian dancer was in his mid-20s and it was his first time attending North America's largest Pride festival. It was a stark contrast to what he'd seen in his hometown of Ottawa, which he described as a 'small, very government city' that was lacking in large-scale queer representation at the time. 'Seeing that brought tears to my eyes,' Avaznia said in an interview ahead of a performance at the Pride festival on Friday. 'I never witnessed that before, seeing representation of not just Iranians but the broader Middle Eastern folks, just because (being) queer and Middle Eastern doesn't always go so well together.' Avaznia said experiencing his first Pride in the city was 'monumental, seeing so many other queer folks of all different ethnicities and backgrounds.' This weekend will feature street parties, musical performances, picnics and marches before the festival culminates in the vibrant Pride parade on Sunday. More than 25,000 marchers from some 250 groups are expected to participate in the weekend's biggest show of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. The last weekend of Pride month and the parade drew a large number of visitors. Toronto police say they will increase their presence throughout the city and in the Church-Wellesley Village – the hub of Pride activities – to ensure everyone's safety. 'So many folks during this month feel seen, they feel protected, they feel heard and they feel they belong,' said Avaznia, who credits his own career momentum to Pride. But this year, the celebrations and the spectacle also come with questions about what the future of Pride Toronto will look like after major corporate sponsors pulled out of the festival. Earlier this month, Pride Toronto said it's facing a $900,000 funding gap due to withdrawals of big sponsors such as Google, Nissan, Home Depot and Clorox, and rising costs of running the festival. Pride Toronto executive director Kojo Modeste attributed the corporate withdrawals to backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States under President Donald Trump's administration. Some of the companies said their decisions were solely based on budgetary considerations, and Google said its employees will still march in Sunday's parade. Modeste has said that next year's Pride festival will likely be scaled down as a result of the shortfall if the organization does not get the support it needs to stay afloat. A scaled down Pride could jeopardize the festival's status as one of the largest Pride celebrations in the world, Modeste warned. For Avaznia, shifting corporate sponsorship doesn't mean Pride won't continue to be a beacon of hope for members of the queer community and those who flock to Toronto annually to feel a sense of belonging. Instead, he said, the changes highlight which brands are invested in supporting Pride for the right reasons. 'Certain sponsors do genuinely want to support and the ones that I've partnered up with have shown to me their true colours and how much they want to support us. Other sponsors that have pulled out … are also showing their true colours,' he said. 'Queer folks have dealt with a tremendous amount of adversities in their lives. A lot of us have dealt with housing issues, we've dealt with the loss of family, we dealt with substance issues,' he said. 'But we will always rise and we will always come forward.' — With files from Vanessa Tiberio This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 28, 2025. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
