outside the bank’s Toronto headquarters—and they have promised more such protests if TD doesn’t do something.
The Toronto Star reported that more than 40 people held up signs, circulated a petition and listened to speeches in Farsi and English.
The message was simple: don’t treat Iranian-Canadians like second-class citizens.
In May, an unknown number of Iranian-Canadians across the country received notices from TD Bank Group saying their accounts would be closed as a result of Canada’s economic sanctions against Iran. But no other Canadian bank has issued any such notices.
Niaz Salimi, one of the protest organizers, said many of those affected are new immigrants fleeing the Iranian regime and that they are afraid to publicly criticize TD’s actions. Though Salimi doesn’t bank with TD, she was protesting the manner in which the bank informed customers that their accounts would be closed. The customers should have been informed in person, and the bank should have given Iranian-Canadians a proper explanation, she said.
Reza Moridi, the one Iranian-born member elected to the Ontario provincial legislature, was one of those attending the protest. He said TD Bank was not acting in the way the sanctions intended.
“Our federal government has to explain the measures they have taken in terms of sanctions against the Iranian regime clearly to the banks and to our financial institutions,” Moridi said. “They’re not supposed to close down the bank accounts of ordinary Iranian-Canadians.”
The federal government has said nothing since issuing the regulations months ago. It has not said TD was wrong to close the accounts. It has not said other banks are wrong not to be closing accounts.
In the first half-hour of the protest, The Toronto Star said three men walked separately passed the protesters and muttered racist remarks.
“You get people who are just disrespectful or non-understanding of different causes or issues, and all you can really do is turn a blind eye almost to it and keep doing what you think is right,” said Ieta Shams, 17, whose parents came to Canada as Iranian refugees.
No one from TD Bank responded to Saturday’s protest. But earlier, the bank’s president denied a report published in Canada that TD had canceled mortgages held by some Iranian-Canadians. The Iran Times carried that report last month. TD said no mortgages had been canceled.