Juno News - Iranian Canadians rally for freedom, urge US action against regime

00:00:00.000 Rallies in solidarity with Iran's national revolution continue in Canada, with Iranian

00:00:09.820 expats calling for awareness and in support of international action, particularly from the US.

00:00:15.560 A new study found that Canada's state broadcaster has shown a significant bias towards Hamas over

00:00:20.820 Israel in its reporting last year. A young male was arrested in Ottawa after allegedly releasing

00:00:26.160 a noxious substance against multiple residents of the city. Hello Canada, it's Wednesday January

00:00:31.200 14th and this is the True North Daily Brief. I'm Isaac Lamoureux. And now it's Alton. We've got you

00:00:36.440 covered with all the news you need to know. Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True

00:00:40.480 North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else. Hundreds of mostly pro-Shah, pro-freedom and

00:00:48.680 anti-regime Iranian Canadians gathered to be a voice for the millions of Iranians who are without

00:00:54.360 internet and electricity and are being massacred by the regime. They called for action from the

00:00:59.020 international community, particularly the US, which has promised to rescue the Iranian people.

00:01:05.040 Hundreds gathered at Nathan Phillips Square on Sunday in Toronto, calling for an end to the

00:01:09.400 Islamic dictatorship and for US President Donald Trump to strike the regime during the 15th night

00:01:15.000 of uprisings in the country. Iran International Media has reported that at least 12,000 people

00:01:20.420 have been killed by the Islamic regime ruling Iran. Rose Barami, the president of Iranian-Canadian

00:01:26.220 legal professionals, told True North on the scene, quote, we ask Canada first and foremost as Iranian

00:01:32.240 Canadians to support our people who struggle for freedom. And this should not be selective. I think

00:01:37.740 anybody who stands for freedom and secular democracy should support the Iranian people and their voice

00:01:43.060 right now. They are unarmed civilians and they're up against a regime that's murderous and it's

00:01:49.420 arm to the teeth. If anybody thinks that the Iranian people, they've shown their bravery, they've shown

00:01:54.580 what they want, but if anybody thinks that they can do this without any help, they're either delusional

00:02:00.340 or they're making a case for survival of Islamic Republic. Nobody wants to see intervention in their 0.95

00:02:05.880 country. But you know what? Germany and France also had to get US help to get rid of fascism.

00:02:11.400 She said Trump's promises to rescue the Iranian people and to make the regime pay a big price

00:02:16.280 give Iranians hope. She also called on Canada and European countries to expel Iranian diplomats 0.95

00:02:22.040 and officials and to prevent regime officials and their families from getting visas to live in

00:02:26.600 Western countries. Dorisa Bondar, a young Iranian protester, told True North that protesters are

00:02:33.000 overwhelmingly behind the exiled son of Iran's last shah or king, Reza Pahlavi, who has promised a

00:02:39.660 transnational government to make way for referendums in a secular democracy if and when the regime falls.

00:02:45.220 This is a very gray area for most Iranian people, especially people outside of Iran,

00:02:51.220 because it's obviously not a fun thing for another country to bomb Iran or our cities. But at this

00:02:59.700 point, we know that the people need the support of Donald Trump, of President Donald Trump, of any,

00:03:06.100 any country, any person, any people in power who can help us, because it's just people against this

00:03:13.260 regime that has bombs, they have missiles, they have every power and everything in this world. And the people

00:03:19.260 are just powerless in that sense. So yes, I think we are all waiting, waiting for some help to come from the US.

00:03:29.260 So Alex, what are some of the things Iranian Canadians were calling for?

00:03:33.260 So Isaac, for any of our listeners who haven't watched the Juneau news clip from our colleague,

00:03:38.540 Clayton Demain, I highly recommend that they watch it. It's really, really quite something. Very

00:03:44.060 captivating. He talked to a lot of people at this, I guess you would say anti-regime protest. One of the

00:03:50.780 things specifically that the protesters were calling for was for the CBC to increase its coverage. This is

00:03:57.100 not just an arbitrary request either. A lot of people in the Iranian or Persian diaspora have family

00:04:03.180 members still in Iran, and they don't know if they're safe. As you noted in the prelude, when you

00:04:09.900 were reading the stories that was produced by Clayton, many people in Iran do not have access to

00:04:15.820 internet, they do not have access to traditional communication channels. And so people are desperately

00:04:21.500 trying to figure out what is happening with their family members. The CBC, as you and I are both well

00:04:26.060 aware, receives over a billion dollars in taxpayer funding. There is absolutely no excuse for them

00:04:30.700 not to be providing adequate coverage of what's happening in Iran. I think that that's frankly

00:04:34.700 ridiculous and an abdication of their responsibility, not just to the diaspora group, but also to all 0.97

00:04:39.900 Canadians. I mean, we should be properly informed about what's happening there. And it's not as though 0.94

00:04:44.220 the CBC has shied away from reporting on other incidents or other developments in the Middle East.

00:04:49.420 Their coverage, as we'll get to in our second story on Hamas and Israel, has been rather exhaustive

00:04:55.420 over the last several years. And so I think that the Iranian Canadians who are asking for the CBC 1.00

00:05:01.100 to cover this more robustly are completely justified in their demands.

00:05:09.420 The taxpayer funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is systematically biased against

00:05:14.220 Israel in its reporting on the conflict with Hamas, according to a damning new study.

00:05:18.380 The taxpayer funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is systematically biased against Israel

00:05:22.780 in its reporting on its conflict with Hamas, according to a damning new study released by

00:05:26.860 Benign Birth Canada. The white paper analyzed hundreds of English-language CBC online articles

00:05:32.060 and video segments published between October 1, 2024 and April 30, 2025. The study found that 55.5%

00:05:39.980 of sampled items were classified as pro-Palestinian, 6.7% as pro-Israel, and 37.8% as balanced or neutral.

00:05:49.180 In its release, Benign Birth Canada said, quote, The results indicate a consistent directional

00:05:53.980 pattern across CBC's coverage. The study examined a population of 499 CBC items and conducted detailed

00:06:00.780 coding on a stratified random sample of 299 reports. The sample included CBC articles and videos that

00:06:06.860 directly addressed the Israel-Hamas conflict, such as reporting on military operations in Gaza or Lebanon,

00:06:12.300 diplomatic initiatives, humanitarian conditions, hostage negotiations, and Canadian involvement.

00:06:17.820 Videos and articles that referred to the conflict incidentally, or where less than 10% of their

00:06:22.620 content related to the subject, were excluded. Researchers assessed each item across four

00:06:27.260 dimensions of what the report describes as structural bias. Framing, selection of contextual

00:06:31.900 information, presentation and language, and sourcing. All four biased dimensions occurred in a majority

00:06:37.580 of the items. All four were present in more than four out of five Palestinian-favoring items and fewer

00:06:43.100 than one in five Israel-favoring articles or videos. So, Isaac, what were some of the people

00:06:48.220 who are working at Benign Birth saying about this, and how did the CBC respond, if at all, to the

00:06:53.260 findings of their study? Yeah, Alex, people at Benign Birth were stressing in the study that it was not

00:06:59.500 an accusation of fabrication or bad faith journalism, but rather a warning about systemic patterns that

00:07:06.300 emerge when coverage is viewed in aggregate. For example, Richard Robertson, Benign Birth Canada's

00:07:12.220 Director of Research and Advocacy, was explicit on that point. He said, the concern isn't that CBC

00:07:17.500 reporters were getting facts wrong, but that repeated editorial choices around framing, sourcing, and

00:07:23.820 emotional emphasis could quietly tilt public understanding over time. In his view, when those same narrative

00:07:30.540 structures recur across hundreds of stories, they create what the study calls a skewed interpretive

00:07:35.660 environment, even if each individual report meets journalistic standards on its own. Benign Birth CEO

00:07:43.020 Simon Wohl echoed that concern, emphasizing the unique role CBC plays as a publicly funded broadcaster.

00:07:50.460 He argued that because CBC journalism shapes how Canadians understand complex international conflicts,

00:07:56.860 even unintentional imbalance carries real consequences. Wohl has warned that skewed coverage can be taken out

00:08:02.940 of context, amplified on social media, and even weaponized politically, particularly at a time when

00:08:08.460 anti-Semitism and social tensions inside Canada have risen sharply. From Benign Birth's perspective,

00:08:14.220 this isn't about punishing journalists, but about restoring confidence in an institution that is legally

00:08:19.100 required under the Broadcasting Act to strive for balance and impartiality. And remember, Alex,

00:08:24.380 what you said there in the prompt was that less than 4 in 10 of these articles were considered

00:08:30.060 balanced, which I think is a shocking data point. The study itself, though, repeatedly states that it

00:08:36.380 does not allege factual inaccuracies, unethical conduct, or even deliberate advocacy. Instead,

00:08:42.380 it points to structural bias, things like repeated omission of initiating context, heavy reliance on

00:08:48.940 humanitarian NGOs as primary sources and emotionally loaded presentation as the drivers of the imbalance.

00:08:55.980 That's why Benign Birth is calling for internal structural audits rather than story by story

00:09:00.540 corrections or disciplinary action. They've also renewed their request to meet with CBC to discuss

00:09:05.820 the findings and develop internal review mechanisms going forward. In a statement to True North,

00:09:10.780 a CBC spokesperson said the broadcaster was aware of the study shortly before publication, in fact,

00:09:16.220 just the day of, I believe, but was not consulted during its preparation. CBC also pushed back by

00:09:21.580 noting that the sample analyzed represented only a portion of the thousands of Gaza-related stories

00:09:27.260 it had produced since the Hamas attack on October 7th, 2023, which I will just note here that the

00:09:33.660 spokesperson did themselves acknowledge that Hamas led the attack on that date. CBC further defended its

00:09:41.100 journalism by pointing to its journalistic standards and practices, emphasizing commitments to fairness,

00:09:46.700 accuracy, balance, integrity, and impartiality. The broadcaster also leaned heavily on the role,

00:09:51.580 as you mentioned, of the CBC Ombudsman, noting that several audience complaints about Gaza coverage

00:09:56.460 have already been reviewed and that none were found to violate CBC's standards. However, absent from

00:10:01.580 CBC's response was any engagement with the methodology or findings of the study. The broadcaster did not

00:10:07.180 address the structural bias framework, the four bias dimensions analyzed, or the fact that similar

00:10:11.740 patterns appeared across both articles and video coverage. Nor did the CBC indicate whether they

00:10:17.580 were willing to conduct any kind of internal aggregate review that Benibreth was recommending.

00:10:22.380 And Benibreth, of course, is arguing that institutional self-examination is necessary precisely because

00:10:27.740 bias can exist without intent. But CBC, conversely, is treating the issue as a question of individual

00:10:32.780 compliance with existing standards. And as long as the Ombudsman hasn't flagged any violations,

00:10:37.900 the broadcaster appears satisfied that the problem doesn't exist.

00:10:44.060 A male youth was arrested at Ottawa's Rideau Centre on Sunday after allegedly releasing a noxious

00:10:49.340 substance against multiple unsuspecting victims, prompting a police response and medical treatment

00:10:54.620 for those affected. The incident occurred just before 10pm on Saturday near one of the bustling

00:10:59.580 shopping malls' entrances, where the substance was released, causing immediate distress.

00:11:04.140 Ottawa Police Service officers in the vicinity saw a group of males flee the scene. Suspects were

00:11:09.340 quickly pursued, apprehended, and detained without further incident. Investigators identified the primary

00:11:14.780 suspect as a male youth responsible for releasing the noxious substance. He now faces multiple charges,

00:11:20.220 including possession and administration of a noxious substance, wearing a disguise with intent,

00:11:25.180 and assault with a weapon. The Ottawa Police Service's Central Investigations Unit has taken

00:11:30.060 over the probe, which officials say is ongoing to determine the full circumstances and any potential

00:11:35.420 motives. Victims received prompt on-site treatment from Ottawa Paramedic Service personnel. No serious

00:11:42.060 injuries were reported, though the exact number of affected individuals was not immediately disclosed.

00:11:48.220 Paramedics confirmed all those impacted were assessed and treated for symptoms consistent

00:11:52.780 with exposure to an irritant. So, Alex, what is a noxious substance and has a motive been discovered in

00:11:59.260 this case? So, Isaac, in police media releases, a noxious substance is usually a deliberately broad,

00:12:06.060 non-technical term. It's chosen to inform the public while avoiding speculation or disclosure that

00:12:11.740 could compromise an ongoing investigation. Basically, what that means in plain English language is,

00:12:17.660 a noxious substance could include pepper spray, tear gas-type agents, ammonia. It's important as

00:12:23.660 well to note what a noxious substance is not. It does not necessarily mean a weaponized chemical agent.

00:12:29.980 Often it means just something harmful or potentially harmful to individuals. The fact that there were

00:12:34.940 paramedics on scene would suggest that it was indeed harmful. The reason that the police used the term

00:12:40.060 noxious substance is typically, it could be for many reasons, but one of them is that the exact

00:12:45.900 substance hasn't been identified yet, lab testing is still underway, or releasing specifics could cause

00:12:51.340 panic or a copycat behavior. In this particular case, Isaac, I think it's interesting that they're 0.91

00:12:56.700 using this term and they're being a little vague on the details. It involves a youth. And so,

00:13:03.260 typically, whenever there's a crime involving a youth due to provisions under the Youth Criminal

00:13:06.940 Justice Act in Canada, police tend to be a little bit more mum due to sensitivities around potentially

00:13:13.340 disclosing who the individual is. Or again, even in the case of an adult, it could be due to

00:13:19.180 an ongoing investigation and not wanting to release details before that investigation has reached

00:13:23.580 fruition. In terms of a potential motive, nothing has been disclosed there either. Again, possibly for

00:13:29.900 the reasons that we've already mentioned, but we will continue covering this story as it unfolds.

00:13:34.780 That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in. You can stay on top of new episodes every weekday by

00:13:43.020 subscribing to The Daily Brief on iTunes and Spotify. Also, while you're at it, make sure to hit us with

00:13:48.300 a five-star rating and please leave a review.

Juno News - January 14, 2026

Iranian Canadians rally for freedom, urge US action against regime

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