IRGC-linked operatives are already active in Canada, raising serious security concerns
On March 6, the body of Masood Majoody, a mathematics professor at Simon Fraser University and a vocal critic of the theocratic Iranian regime, was found in Mission, B.C. He went missing on Feb. 2, a victim of suspected foul play.
Police have now arrested and charged two individuals, Mehdi Razavi and Arezou Soltani, alleged to have ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of Iran’s military responsible for internal repression and overseas operations, with his murder.
This killing is not an isolated incident but part of a growing pattern of Iranian regime-linked activity extending onto Canadian soil.
Federal briefings to Parliament have indicated that as many as 700 individuals with senior-level ties to the IRGC or the Iranian regime may be present in Canada, some of whom have obtained Canadian citizenship.
Of those 700, only 32 have been reported as inadmissible under a 2022 policy that bars senior Iranian regime officials involved in terrorism and systemic human rights violations from entering or remaining in Canada.
Taken together, these figures suggest that individuals tied to one of the world’s most aggressive state security apparatuses are present in Canada in significant numbers, with limited enforcement action taken against them.
This presence is not theoretical but has already been linked to violence and credible threats within Canada.
In 2024, authorities uncovered a reported plot targeting former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler, who had advocated for designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization. The Liberal government designated the IRGC only after sustained domestic and international pressure, including from the United States.
On March 10, shots were fired at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto. Authorities have not ruled out possible links to IRGC sympathizers.
Beyond direct threats, law enforcement and intelligence reporting have linked Iranian actors to organized crime groups, including the Hells Angels, in efforts to target individuals in North America.
The IRGC’s long-standing role extends well beyond Iran’s borders. It is not simply a domestic security force but an organization built to project power, suppress opposition and carry out operations internationally.
Its influence extends beyond direct violence and targeted threats. Western intelligence and security agencies have also raised concerns about foreign funding and influence tied to pro-Hamas, anti-Israel protests in Canada following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.
This role has already had deadly consequences for Canadians. In 2020, the IRGC shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 shortly after it departed Tehran, killing 176 people, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.
Taken together, this record points to a consistent pattern of behaviour by the IRGC and its associated networks.
Despite this record of direct harm to Canadians, Canada has allowed individuals linked to the IRGC and its associated networks to enter and remain in the country.
American authorities are increasingly concerned about IRGC-linked operatives operating north of the border, in a country separated from the United States by a 6,416-kilometre boundary with limited physical enforcement.
The question is no longer whether these operatives are present. The evidence indicates that they are, and the issue is whether Canada is willing to confront that reality.
Too often, concerns about foreign interference and state-linked threats are dismissed as exaggerated or politically motivated.
But the pattern is becoming harder to ignore.
Canada is not being targeted because it is uniquely important. It is being targeted because it is accessible.
Allowing individuals tied to regimes that engage in repression, terrorism and foreign operations to operate here is not a neutral policy choice. It is a failure of enforcement.
When individuals linked to such systems can enter, remain and, in some cases, act with apparent impunity, the consequences are no longer hypothetical.
And Canada’s policy failures have allowed it to happen.
Brian Giesbrecht is a retired judge and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
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