January 28, 2025
A -new Canadian official investigative commission lists Iran as one of five countries interfering in Canada.
The commission was tasked with measuring the extent of interference in Canadian elections and democratic institutions by foreign governments. It found two governments—China and India—had actively tried to get preferred candidates elected or hated candidates defeated in the last two Canadian federal elections.
But it charged three other countries with interfering in Canadian internal matters—Russia, Pakistan and Iran.
It said Russia was primarily seeking to generate opposition to the Canadian government’s support for Ukraine, Pakistan was devoting its efforts to countering India, and Iran was chiefly interested in suppressing criticism of Iran, especially from Iranian-born residents of Canada.
With regard to Iran, the report, issued January 28, said:
“Iran is not, nor has it historically been, a significant foreign interference actor in Canadian federal elections or other democratic institutions. Iran instead focuses on transnational repression to prevent criticism of its government.
“Iran relies on criminal groups to carry out its activities and conducts psychological harassment online. Such tactics may very well prevent people from participating in Canadian democratic processes, but this is difficult to determine with certainty.
“Canada recently listed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity. This could result in increased foreign interference activity leading up to an election, among other potential reactions.”
Later, the report added: ”The government assesses Iran as a considerable transnational threat because it is likely monitoring, influencing, collecting information on, harassing and intimidating the Iranian diaspora community to prevent criticism of Iran.”
