Retroactive Impact and Unjust Application

The treatment of former IRGC conscripts under Canada’s terrorism-related inadmissibility measures is fundamentally unfair. The IRGC was officially listed as a terrorist organization in June 2024, yet individuals who served many years ago are being affected, long before this designation, and at a time when Canada still maintained diplomatic relations with Iran. These conscripts had no choice or control over their assignment, performed only basic roles, and were coerced into service, making them victims rather than perpetrators.

This approach stands in stark contrast to Canada’s introduction of a new inadmissibility policy for senior Iranian regime officials in November 2022. That policy clearly applied only to individuals who held positions from November 15, 2019, onwards, ensuring that only those responsible for decisions and actions resulting in human rights violations were affected. It was a time-bound and targeted approach, recognizing agency and responsibility.

By comparison, the current treatment of conscripts ignores these crucial distinctions. Difference in service, lack of choice, and absence of decision-making power are not taken into account. A young person randomly assigned to the IRGC 20 or 30 years ago could never have anticipated that this compulsory service would, decades later, classify them as inadmissible. The lack of any temporal or contextual consideration penalizes victims while failing to differentiate them from actual perpetrators, highlighting the urgent need for formal exemptions and a fair, fact-based approach.