Latest news with #ScurfieldPark
CTV News
07-07-2025
- General
- CTV News
Winnipeg memorial honours victims of Flight PS752
A memorial honouring the 176 people who died on Flight PS752 in 2020 was unveiled in Winnipeg. A memorial honouring the 176 people who died on Flight PS752 in 2020 was unveiled in Winnipeg. A new memorial honouring the lives lost after a plane was shot down five years ago is now in place in Winnipeg. The Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims unveiled a memorial Saturday in Scurfield Park to honour the 176 people who died on the flight. The Ukrainian Airlines flight was shot down shortly after taking off from Tehran on Jan. 8, 2020. The flight included 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents. 'One of the most important goals for our association has been to keep the memory and legacies of the loved ones (of) all the people (who) were on the plane alive, and make sure families and also the wider societies in Canada and around the world do not forget this,' said Kourosh Doustshenas, a spokesperson with the association. The memorial includes a stone wall inscribed with the names of all 176 victims on the side. The wall is surrounded by eight trees to represent the eight victims with ties to Winnipeg. Doustshenas noted three victims lived across the street from the park where the memorial was built. 'They were a husband and a wife and 10-year-old daughter and they didn't deserve to be killed like that,' he said. 'They had a whole life ahead of them.' Doustshenas said the memorial will act as a place of mourning, remembrance and a state of accountability. 'This was an atrocity, not only against our families, but also against the whole population, and no one should be allowed to basically kill Canadians and get away with it,' he said. The association has also planted 176 trees and shrubs in Whyte Ridge Park. Photo: A memorial honouring the victims of Flight PS752 is seen in Winnipeg on July 7, 2025. (Glenn Pismenny/CTV News Winnipeg)
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Winnipeg memorial site for Flight PS752 victims 'a powerful step' toward justice: family members
Canadians who lost loved ones when a passenger plane was shot down in Tehran in 2020 say a new memorial site in Winnipeg is a powerful step toward honouring the lives of their loved ones. A memorial site featuring a stone wall with the names of 176 people onboard Flight PS752 was unveiled in south Winnipeg at Scurfield Park on Saturday. Fifty-five Canadian citizens were killed, including eight from Winnipeg's Iranian community. Kourosh Doustshenas, president and founder of the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims, says it's the first memorial to be erected in honour of Flight PS752 victims anywhere in the world. Doustshenas lost his fiancée, Dr. Forough Khadem, when Flight PS752 was shot down moments after takeoff from Tehran's international airport on Jan. 8, 2020. It was brought down by two Iranian surface-to-air missiles launched by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. "Still, every day, I live thinking about her, and everything I do is in her honour," Doustshenas told host Nadia Kidwai during a Saturday interview with CBC Radio's Weekend Morning Show. "She could have done so much more in the world, and it's been taken so soon." Doustshenas says Scurfield Park was also chosen as the site for the new memorial because a family of three who were on Flight PS752 — Mohammad Mahdi Sadeghi, Bahareh Hajesfandiari and their daughter, Anisa Sadeghi — had lived across the street. "We decided that's the right place to do it," Doustshenas said. Liberal MP Terry Duguid, who represents Winnipeg South riding, said the tragedy "hit close to home," and he lived two blocks away from the Sadeghi and Hajesfandiari family. "This is not abstract for us. We lost neighbours, we lost friends," Duguid said. Duguid read a statement on behalf of Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, offering condolences to the families and reiterating the federal government's commitment to challenging Iran at the International Court of Justice and the International Civil Aviation Organization. "The path to justice is long, but justice will prevail and all of us will be there with you on that important journey," Duguid said. Many family members at the memorial unveiling in Winnipeg on Saturday had travelled from Richmond Hill, Ont., which lost 44 community members on Flight PS752. Richmond Hill Mayor David West said it was the largest mass loss of life in a single day in the city's history. "Through this first memorial, we honour the past, we support the present, and we shape a more just future," West said during the ceremony, adding Richmond Hill is also working toward establishing a permanent memorial for the victims. Azadeh Heidaripour flew in from Richmond Hill to honour the life of her 21-year-old son Amir Moradi, who was a student at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. "It's really hard to see your only child's name here," Heidaripour said. "My life has two parts. One part before this tragedy, and one part after. I lost all my hope, I lost my future. I lost everything," she said. She said she and her husband had been visiting Iran with Amir, but he flew back to Canada two days ahead of them. Heidaripour said that she has bonded with other parents who lost their children on Flight PS752 and they are working together to demand answers and get justice for their loved ones. "We need to find out what happened to our kids, why they are not here," she said. Richmond Hill resident Hamed Esmaeilion, who is a board member with the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims, said he has lived through "2,000 days of pain" since his wife Parisa Eghbalian and nine-year-old daughter Reera Esmaeilion were killed onboard. He said he has dedicated the rest of his life to keeping their legacy alive. "We promised ourselves, we promised all these victims that we'll go to the end of this journey," Esmaeilion said. Maral Gorginpour, who is also an association board member, lost her husband Fareed Arasteh just days after they were married. She flew in from Toronto to see his name etched into the memorial's stone. "It was an emotional moment," Gorginpour said. In a speech at the memorial unveiling, association president Doustshenas said the site will serve many needs for grieving community members, as "a place of reflection, of remembrance and of resistance." He said that every day since he lost his fiancée has been filled with pain, but also a driving purpose to keep her memory alive and seek accountability from the Iranian regime. "Let this place serve as a reminder that we will not rest until justice is done. We will not allow truth to be buried and we will never allow the memory of our loved ones to fade without seeking justice," Doustshenas said. "The unveiling of this permanent memorial site here in Winnipeg is a powerful step in fulfilling that promise," he said.
