‘I feel so betrayed’: Iranian conscripts in Canada face deportation threats over terrorist designation

Hundreds of Iranian families have received a letter from the federal immigration department declaring them inadmissible to Canada. Time is running out for them to prove they are not members of a terrorist organization.  

“We chose Canada to live in a fair place, but now I realize there is no justice here,” Sanam Mohammadzadeh said.

“We are shocked and speechless.”

The Windsor, Ont. resident is among the affected Iranian families in Canada who are concerned about their future here. Many are planning to stage a protest on Sept. 22 on Parliament Hill.

A Procedural Fairness Letter (PFL) from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is issued to an applicant when the IRCC officer has concerns about the application. CBC News reviewed approximately 50 such PFL letters issued on Aug. 6. They all used the same wording that an applicant is being considered “inadmissible” because of their prior conscription service.

Experts say all men in Iran, age 18 and older, must do mandatory service with one of the arms of the military, and many are assigned to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In July 2024, the Canadian government listed IRGC as a terrorist organization under Criminal Code. Then-Justice Minister Arif Virani had shared concerns about the impact of the designation on the conscripts.

“If an individual was conscripted at one point in time and no longer serves with the IRGC, that would affect the analysis,” he said in 2024.

Iranian Canadians say they are being punished with travel restrictions for being conscripted as young men

Mohammadzadeh is an award-winning post-doctoral fellow at the University of Windsor. Her husband, who works in auto manufacturing, received the letter for his IRGC conscription service, which happened in 2010. Mohammadzadeh said they immigrated to Canada because they were against the Iranian regime and IRGC, and they participated in many protests against the regime once here. Now, they fear their safety is at risk if they have to return.

Iranian told he may have to leave Canada over past IRGC service

The couple has been waiting for permanent residency approval since 2024, and are angry IRCC has labelled all conscripts as terrorists. Mohammadzadeh said if her husband’s past conscription was such an obstacle, why did the Canadian government allow them to come in the first place?

“I’m exactly the same person with the identical information I provided. Now suddenly, I’m a terrorist,” she said. “I feel so betrayed.” 

CBC News talked with more than 30 affected people across Canada in the past month, who all received PFLs on the same date, telling them they have 30 days to prove they are not active members of the IRGC. They say there are more than 400 families in limbo, and even after staging multiple protests across major Canadian cities and contacting local MPs, their efforts have been in vain.

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In an emailed statement, IRCC said the safety and security of Canadians and the fair and consistent application of Canada’s immigration laws are priorities for the department. 

“IRCC has not adopted a blanket approach to individuals who completed compulsory military service. We recognize that some individuals may have served because of conscription. Each case is assessed on its individual facts and circumstances, and compulsory service alone does not necessarily result in inadmissibility,” IRCC spokesperson Anahita Beladi said.

“PFLs are not final decisions or findings of inadmissibility. They are a routine and well-established part of the immigration decision-making process, with thousands sent regularly.”

IRCC added the standardized letter templates are used for consistency and to clearly explain the concerns being raised.

IRCC did not confirm the number of letters sent to PR applicants with IRGC ties. 

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Winnipeg resident Mahdi Shahmohammadi said he applied for his PR in 2022, and it took IRCC more than four years to issue him the PFL for his IRGC conscription in early 2000s.

“We live in darkness. There’s no future… There’s a foggy road in front of us, and it doesn’t matter how powerful our headlights are. We can’t see anything,” he said.

Shahmohammadi said he works in quality control in Manitoba and worries about his future as his permit expires next March. He said it’s “a nightmare” to be put in this delay. 

“It’s increased our distrust and anxiety. It’s like torture.” 

Fredericton resident Hamid Alikhani has been left in limbo for his conscription in 2013. He’s concerned what this will mean for his two-year-old daughter’s future. She is a Canadian citizen.

“It has really destroyed my life. It’s really a difficult situation for us and I didn’t expect this behaviour from Canada. That is really unfair treatment,” he said with tears.

“I paid a lot of expenses to come to Canada, and now I got this terrorist label. I wish I didn’t come to Canada.”

Having participated in anti-regime protests, Alikhani said he cannot go back to Iran, and will look at moving elsewhere in the Middle East if his journey doesn’t pan out in Canada. 

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Kaveh Shahrooz, a lawyer and senior fellow at the MacDonald Laurier Institute, was one of the activists asking for the IRGC to be designated as a terrorist entity, but they was “consistently given assurances that conscripts would not be included.”

While national security is paramount, he said there’s a real sense of frustration in the Iranian community to see their immigration being affected by this.

“I feel let down by the Liberal government because they had consistently delayed listing the IRGC as a terrorist organization because they said they were working through issues related to conscription. That had always been the basis of the delay,” he said.

“As an activist, my assumption had always been that the government would have a solution for this. Once it was announced that the RGC was being listed, there was no exemption for conscripts.”

Calling it “careless and negligent”, Kaveh said the 2024 decision is affecting countless innocent people who had “no choice” for their mandatory conscription service.

“Unfortunately, the government seems to be approaching this issue without a sense of balance.” 

Groups such as International Center for Human Rights are also urging Ottawa for exemptions.

Immigration lawyer Zeynab Ziaie Moayyed said the United Kingdom took a better approach by excluding conscripts when IRGC was designated a terrorist entity.

“In the U.K., they specifically carved out conscripts recognizing that they do not have a choice in terms of where they are assigned. By not having that carve out, we’ve ended up in this situation,” she said.

Ziaie Moayyed said instead IRCC has taken a “blanket approach” which is stressing many families and will also take up resources and create backlogs at CBSA. 

“There is a very difficult balancing act that IRCC and CBSA have to do. The challenge is that a lot of people who are caught in this really weren’t intended to be the kinds of applicants that were going to face this additional scrutiny to begin with.”

Ziaie Moayyed said 30 days “is not a lot of time to respond” to PFLs and urges soliciting counsel who have experience on this to provide a very complete response to IRCC. 

She said applicants can potentially be in limbo for a couple of years as IRCC goes through their responses, which can in turn cause complications for expiring permit holders.