Iranian Canadians say they are being punished with travel restrictions for being conscripted as young men
CBC
With the holiday season just around the corner, many are planning to travel, but Saskatoon resident Amir Abolhassani says he and many other Iranian Canadians will be shoveling snow at home.
Abolhassani sold his house in Saskatoon when his U.S.-based employer asked him to relocate to North Carolina. But at the Calgary airport this January, his family was not allowed to cross the border.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer told Abolhassani, who is a Canadian citizen, that it was because of time he spent as a conscript in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) more than a decade ago.
The Trump administration labelled the IRGC as a terrorist organization in 2019.
Abolhassani said all men in Iran above the age of 18 have to do mandatory service with one of the arms of the military, and one in three are assigned to the IRGC. He said refusing conscription would prevent a man from getting a passport or accessing civic amenities, and can sometimes lead to further punishment.
He said it's not fair to be punished for having been conscripted.
"We are not Canadian citizens enough. Are we really Canadians at this point?" he said.
"There are people who are not able to say their last goodbye to their parents in the United States. A sick child who needs to be treated there can't go."
CBC spoke with 25 Iranian Canadians who unanimously agreed that they are being treated as second-class citizens. All say their emails to local members of parliament and officials at the federal level have fallen on deaf ears.
Many say they are subjected to a secondary screening involving long, intrusive interviews and an extensive search of their belongings, cellphones and social media, even when entering Canada.
While all welcome Canada's recent decision to ban senior IRCG officials, they want the government to not put former conscripts in the same basket.
According to the recent census, there are 213,160 people of Iranian descent in Canada. Abolhassani said some 80,000 could be impacted by this issue, including his daughter, who is barely a month old.
"I'm in contact with over 200 families corresponding to some 600 Iranian Canadians in the same boat," he said.
Global Affairs Canada declined to comment, redirecting the query to the Canada Border Services Agency.
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