A few weeks ago, I wrote a column about how Canada needs to get serious and start a conversation about our values and what it means to be Canadian. Well, shortly after I wrote that column, someone sent me a clip of a speech that was given in Queen s Park by a female elected official. It was a speech about what Canada means to her, and how some of the worst instances of tribalism and bigotry that she left behind in the Middle East have followed her to Canada.
00:04:59.140I just knew that I wanted to speak because it was an issue that's of such importance to me.
00:05:05.480And, you know, ever since my speech, I've received emails from hundreds of people, not just in my riding of Carleton, but across Ontario and across Canada.
00:05:19.620Many of them newcomers or, you know, immigrants from previous years who said that they share the exact same sentiment as me.
00:05:29.800Because I think, you know, the majority of people, including my parents, immigrate to Canada because they want a better life, because they recognize and they understand the possibilities that a country like Canada provides.
00:05:45.700It's the potential futures that Canada provides, the opportunities that Canada provides.
00:05:52.340And that happens because of the way Canadian society is structured.
00:05:59.240And so, you know, that's why people like my parents immigrate here is to become part of that community, to embrace those Canadian values and to raise their children Canadian.
00:06:17.420And I'm very pleased to hear that you got that reaction and that so many Canadians felt the same way.
00:06:22.960In your speech, you also were very critical of the pro-Palestine rallies that we've been seeing.
00:06:28.920You mentioned that there are have been genocidal chants.
00:06:32.620What do you think we should make of these?
00:06:34.240What do you think Canada should do when protests are not advocating for peace, for instead when protests sort of turn nasty and start advocating for terrorism and for groups like Hamas who promote genocide?
00:06:47.020Well, you know, the Canadian government has made it very clear that hate rallies have no place in Ontario.
00:06:54.740I know that the prime minister has said something similar, but then he's kind of gone back and forth on it and hasn't been very clear on where he stands, which is a little bit unfortunate.
00:07:06.240Because I think, you know, any sort of chants or behaviors or marches or rallies that promote hate or terrorism have no place in Canada and don't belong in Canada.
00:07:18.140It's unfortunate. I know that the previous federal government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper introduced a piece of legislation that would have made the glorification of acts of terror illegal in Canada, but Justin Trudeau repealed that or didn't allow it to go through.
00:07:37.360So unfortunately, right now, there's this loophole that allows certain groups to make certain genocidal chants or to shout things like cheva or gas the Jews or, you know, we heard about that imam in Montreal who was preaching off of a balcony to 20,000 people at a pro-Palestine rally.
00:08:03.880And in that sermon, he's basically saying, kill the Zionists. I mean, how is that even Canada?
00:08:10.500Like that's something that's the kind of behavior you would see in like a radical Islamo-fascist country, like the terrorist Islamic regime in Iran.
00:08:18.560Like you don't see that in Canada. That's the kind of behavior that my parents immigrated from to get immigrated to Canada to to get away from.
00:08:27.800Right. Like we know what that behavior is. We see that in Iran all the time, unfortunately, because the behavior that we're seeing right now in Canada, certain behaviors, certain very anti-Semitic ideologies or chants.
00:08:43.180These all stem from ideology that's been perpetrated and exported by the terrorist Islamic regime in Iran, a regime that denies the Holocaust, a regime that is incredibly anti-Semitic, a regime that constantly says that they're going to eradicate the Zionist regime.
00:09:01.660And we're seeing those exact same talking points here in Canada in 2023.
00:09:08.660It's interesting. You've been exposing and ringing the alarm bell about Islamists and specifically regime members, people from the Islamic regime in Iran living in Canada, able to go about their business.
00:09:20.960You know, it's interesting because, you know, it's interesting because, you know, it's interesting because back under, again, the previous federal Harper government, Canada expelled the Iranian diplomats that ended diplomatic ties.
00:09:31.880Trudeau has sort of been warmer and softer, but it's still very surprising to me that there would be senior members, you know, of the regime living in Canada, able to just sort of carry on their business without being bothered.
00:09:44.940The other day we saw a rally where someone was waving an Islamic Republic flag.
00:09:50.580You know, I've seen many people wave Persian flags, the same colors, but instead of the Islamic Republic logo, a lion.
00:10:00.360But I hadn't seen that sort of the Ayatollahs flag in Canada before.
00:10:06.640So why don't you tell us a little bit more about the research that you've been doing and what Canada ought to do about regime members living in our country?
00:10:12.680So there was a global news special that came out a couple of weeks ago from an Iranian reporter named Nigar Mojtahedi.
00:10:24.040And she had done a very in-depth review and research on Islamic regime sympathizers and people from Iran who sympathize with the Islamic regime who are in Canada.
00:10:33.220And there's currently at least 700 known Islamic regime sympathizers who are in Canada and Trudeau has done nothing about that.
00:10:44.380And like you said, a lot of them come here and live these free lives in Canada and enjoy the benefits of being in a Canadian society after everything they've done in Iran.
00:10:58.200And I think part of the reason, I mean, I can't prove this, but my educated guess would be part of the reason why they're able to come here is money, whether they're sort of economic immigrants or, you know, I would just say in that case, the easiest answer is to follow the money.
00:11:15.560What we can do, what Justin Trudeau could do if he actually wanted to, is to put the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is basically the ruling party, to put everyone involved in the IRGC on the Canadian terror list.
00:11:32.260What that would do is that immediately ban anyone from coming to Canada, whether as a, you know, on a visitor basis or permanent residence, permanent basis.
00:11:43.900It would also ban all commercial activities and any assets that were in Canada would be frozen.
00:11:50.840So it would, you know, provide an economic sanction within Canada right away.
00:11:56.360And it would definitely give more ability and more weight for authorities to go after those who are in Canada, who are affiliated with the Islamic regime in Iran.
00:12:14.720This is something that the Iranian-Canadian community has been calling for for several years.
00:12:20.140Most notably in the past three, almost four years now, since the Islamic regime shot down Ukraine flight PS752 back in January of 2020.
00:12:32.920Initially, when they did that, they said the Islamic regime blamed it on Canada and the United States, saying that this was some sort of Zionist conspiracy theory.
00:12:44.880And one thing you'll notice with the Islamic regime is everything to them is a Zionist conspiracy theory.
00:12:49.460So for the first three days, the Islamic regime claimed that this was Canada and the United States and a Zionist conspiracy cover-up.
00:12:57.600But after three days, when more and more social media footage was emerging, showing what actually happened,
00:13:03.100the Islamic regime finally had to acknowledge that they themselves had shot down Ukraine flight PS752,
00:13:12.580killing 55 Canadians on board, as well as 30 permanent residents who were among the 176 passengers and crew who were all basically murdered when the plane was shot down.
00:13:27.580So ever since then, Iranians have been trying to get the IRGC on the terrorist list and Justin Trudeau refuses.
00:13:34.760We still don't know why he refuses to put the IRGC on the terrorist list.
00:13:39.280What I do know is that one of his MPs, an Iranian MP actually from Richmond Hill, Majid Johadi, back in 2016,
00:13:49.020initiated a petition to try and re-establish diplomatic relations with the terrorists and illegitimate Islamic regime,
00:13:56.240which made no sense to the Iranian-Canadian community.
00:13:59.680And that actually left a sour taste in a lot of people's mouths, a lot of Iranian-Canadian's mouths.
00:14:07.200And yeah, there's a lot of people who took offense and took issue with that MP trying to re-establish diplomatic negotiations
00:14:19.700and reopen the Iranian embassy in Canada.
00:14:24.240So that might also provide a hint as to why Trudeau won't put the IRGC on the terrorist list.
00:14:30.100I believe that's the same MP who, during a large round of protests,
00:14:35.860Iranians in Canada and around the world were protesting the regime's crackdown on civilians, on children, all kinds of things.
00:14:42.820I believe that's the same MP who told Canadians to respect the democratically elected government of Iran.
00:14:49.080Iran. He later had to walk that back because obviously there's no kind of democracy or elections in Iran.
00:14:56.000Goldie, I wanted to ask you just a final question.
00:14:58.160We're seeing a lot of protests, a lot of rallies in Canada.
00:15:02.100You know, some of these protests border on being sort of openly pro-Hamas,
00:15:06.500openly promoting very barbaric practices and ideologies.
00:15:11.260And I think it's hard for many Canadians to sort of walk the line of what is considered Islamophobic
00:15:17.860and what is considered legitimate criticism of extremism or even promotion of terrorism.
00:15:25.040I know you recently tweeted about how you're a sort of strong advocate of women's rights in the Middle East,
00:15:30.640but that you failed to make a distinction between extremist practices and the broader Muslim faith.
00:15:36.620So I'm wondering if, from your perspective, where is that distinction?
00:15:40.360Because the term Islamophobia is a bit murky.
00:15:43.000It's not always clear what is meant by it.
00:15:45.320And some people interpret it as being a criticism of Islam, which is meant to be banned.
00:15:53.300So my tweets have always been within the context of the terrorist and illegitimate Islamic regime in Iran.
00:15:58.520And, you know, I always refer to it as Islamofascism as opposed to Islam or Muslims.
00:16:04.000I can see how sometimes some of the things I say, when I take it out of context,
00:16:09.700could be referred to or could be interpreted as referring to everyone.
00:16:15.240The challenge is, at this point, I'm not quite really sure what is considered Islamophobic and what isn't.
00:16:20.720I was reading a recent article where I know the CRA is attempting to audit a couple of, I guess,
00:16:26.820Muslim nonprofits or Muslim charities.
00:16:29.520And one of the advocacy groups was arguing that the CRA attempting to audit these Muslim groups is Islamophobic.
00:16:38.140And that's an argument they made to a judge in Canada.
00:16:43.140Now, I don't think the judge actually, I don't think the judge bought that argument.
00:16:46.820Didn't buy the claim that CRA attempting to audit a Muslim group is Islamophobic.
00:16:52.900But I think it just goes, it just shows the challenge of trying to criticize certain radical ideologies and then, you know, being painted with this brush.
00:17:06.040I think it's just very important that any criticism of any religion, it should always be made very clear that, you know, this isn't a, you know, you're not, you're not painting the entire community.
00:17:21.300You're not painting the entire practice.
00:17:23.500You're just talking about something very specific.
00:17:25.480So, for example, you know, one of the criticisms I have made is that, to me, it makes no sense that the United Nations voted to have the terrorists and illegitimate Islamic regime in Iran, which is an Islamophascist dictatorship, have them be the head of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
00:17:43.420Like, to me, it just doesn't make sense.
00:17:45.620And I don't think to any rational person, it wouldn't make sense that a brutal dictatorship that murders and hangs children in the name of Allah, by the way, that's what they do.
00:17:59.560That's why they're Islamophascists, because they use religion to legitimize their fascist behavior.
00:18:09.360And there's actually a term for it in Farsi.
00:18:11.900In Farsi, we refer to Islamophascism as Vilayatif Fati, and, like, that's a whole other episode that we could go into.
00:18:20.920But essentially, what it does is it gives the supreme leader the divine authority to dictate anything that they want in the name of Allah.
00:18:33.180So, you know, to me, it makes no sense that you have this Islamophascist dictatorship who hangs children, be the head of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
00:18:44.420So, to me, my personal opinion is that we have these international humanitarian organizations or institutions that seem a little bit compromised, right?
00:18:54.500Like, how could you not be compromised when you have people voting for the Islamic regime in Iran to be the chair of the Human Rights Council?
00:19:02.720So, I think it's a matter of being very, very clear and succinct in the criticisms in order to make sure that people understand the context.
00:19:12.500Absolutely. And I think you're completely right about the UN.
00:19:16.460I recently saw someone on social media post a picture of an individual who was both a member of UNRWA, which is the United Nations branch that focuses on refugees in Palestine, who also happened to be a member of Hamas.
00:19:29.420So, he was both. And I think that that kind of shows the compromise there.
00:19:33.040Well, Goldie, I really appreciate your time. I appreciate all your effort. I know you have such a big following out there.
00:19:37.500So many people look at you and admire the work you do and admire your voice and your strength.
00:19:41.540So, thank you so much for taking the time and keep doing what you're doing.
00:19:45.880Thank you so much for having me on anytime.
00:19:48.400I'm sorry, I kind of, I think I ran it on a little bit too much, but happy to come back anytime.
00:19:54.080Great. Wonderful. Thank you so much. That's Goldie Gamare, an MPP in Ontario.
00:19:58.340I'm Candice Malcolm, and this is The Candice Malcolm Show.