Speech: S-219 – Non-Nuclear Sanctions Against Iran

Honourable senators, I rise today to address Bill S-219, a bill to deter Iran-sponsored terrorism, incitement to hatred and human rights violations. This bill is currently adjourned in the name of Senator Cools. With her permission, at the end of my remarks, I ask that the item remain in her name.

We have heard from Senator Tkachuk, who is the sponsor of the bill, and others about the intent of this bill, which in short form, seeks to influence and limit the egregious human rights abuses by the government of Iran by further regulating Canada’s engagement with it. The bill provides that sanctions will be maintained unless it can be shown in two consecutive annual reports that there is a demonstrable improvement in the behaviour of Iran in the sanctioned areas.

As someone who lived for more than six years in Iran, who is married to an Iranian-Canadian, who was once an Iranian by acquired citizenship, I think I have some credentials here to weigh into the debate.

I lived in Iran, both during the time of the shah, through the revolution, and into the time of the Islamic government. Let me tell you, there was oppression of the people and gross violations of their human rights throughout this time. Evin Prison, often mentioned in witness testimony, was as much a place of dread during the imperialist regime as it is today a place of dread during the Islamist regime.

The Iranian people have, in fact, enjoyed democracy for two very short years, 1951-53, when Prime Minister Mossadegh was the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, only to be ousted in a coup because of foreign interests in Iranian oil.

I appreciate the sentiments expressed by many of the senators and the witnesses during committee that our quarrel is not with the people of Iran but with their government. I want to say a word or two about the people.

I learned the language when I lived there, and I believe when you learn a language, you can look into the soul of a culture. The Iranian people are like people anywhere in the world, but I observed that they have a sense of poetry, of grace, of elegance, of a turn of phrase and of hospitality which, in my travels in the world — I have lived in four countries — lived in them, not visited them — nowhere else is that expression of grace and elegance and hospitality more formally articulated than in Iran.

I remember in the last few years when I lived in Iran there was a war with Iraq going on. There was no heat. For those of you who have not been to Iran, it gets very cold. We would sit around tables with blankets thrown over them and with a coal fire underneath. Fire hazard or no fire hazard, that’s the way we kept warm.

When I left Iran under duress and I cast a last fleeting glance across the border, I thought that this whole thing was temporary. I thought that certainly Iran would go through a period of turmoil and adjustment, and in 10, 20 years, Iran would be a flourishing democracy. I was so wrong. The fundamentalist regime is so deeply and politically embedded that the dream of democracy, particularly for the youth, seems too far into the horizon to be tangible.

I want to join my colleagues in condemning the human rights violations in Iran perpetrated by the Government of Iran. The testimony of witnesses, including Marina Nemat, is hard to read. The torture and murder of Iranian-Canadian Zahra Kazemi and the wrongful imprisonment of Homa Hoodfar are horrific, unimaginable, but very real acts of violence, not just against two women who happen to be Canadian, but against humanity itself.

There are other very troublesome signs that Senator Tkachuk pointed out. Executions in Iran can have continued to grow. In 2015, Tehran executed over 1,000 people, topping the world in the number of executions for that year. Journalists perform their duties under the most difficult and dangerous conditions. Religious minorities, in particular the Bahá’í community, are regularly targeted.

The question before us that this bill addresses is: What can Canada do to stop this behaviour? How can we use our power here to address human rights abuses there? How can we disincentivize Iran to moderating, if not ceasing, its actions? How can we best do this, not with others, but acting on our own? Acting unilaterally.

Here, honourable senators, as much as I agree with the foundational motivations of the bill, I come to my problem with it. The bill, in essence, asks us to stop talking to the Iranian government, to disengage with them until certain improvements in their behaviour can be documented and observed by us.

I ask myself, what will be the result of this disengagement? Will Iran stop torturing people, free up the media, behave like a government that governs for the people and not for a small oligarchy? I don’t think so. Everything in Iran’s behaviour has led me to believe that we may well exacerbate the situation. Even Marina Nemat, who advocates for the release of prisoners in Iran and who herself was a prisoner and was horrendously tortured, says that engagement would provide us with better results. She asks for a Canadian mission in Iran because engagement at this level would allow to us speak, advocate and influence directly the Government of Iran.

There are also some very practical reasons for restoring diplomatic relations with Iran. These have not been talked about, but they are serious for the people who are impacted by them. Consider cross-border child abductions, which the Senate Human Rights Committee studied a couple of years ago. Iran is not part of the Hague convention that helped prevent and resolve cases involving the abduction of children across international borders. For example, Alison Azer’s four children were taken to Iran by their father two years ago, and there is no agreement, mechanism or mission in place for us to talk directly to the Government of Iran. So I worry about the unintended impact of a largely symbolic bill.

I then ask myself, what levers does Canada have? We are a middle power. Let’s not fool ourselves here. We do not have a big market here for Iranian products, nor do we export a great deal to Iran. Some impressive figures on potential trade benefits for Canada were noted by the Iranian Canadian Congress. It was noted that even as we speak about putting conditions on our engagement with Iran, European countries are moving to establish new trading relations. Canada, they said, could well be left on the margins.

I don’t think this straight argument speaks to me. I don’t think it’s a good enough argument. I do not believe we should trade away human rights abuses for trade. We should never wish to do that. However, I do believe we have a lever. That lever is persuasion, advocacy and engagement, loudly when we need to, softly and with diplomacy when called upon, because diplomacy and engagement go hand in hand. Engagement leads to conversation, even when you disagree. Engagement may lead to university or cultural exchanges, which are often a soft entry using soft power as a tool for change.

Our colleague Senator Patricia Bovey, who is championing cultural engagement and cultural diplomacy, reminded me today that culture may open doors that are closed to diplomats. She reminded me that before we entered China to start trading relationships, it was the Toronto Symphony Orchestra that opened the door with its visit. She reminded me again that it was the Royal Winnipeg Ballet that preceded our NAFTA negotiators in Mexico and established a relationship there. So engagement and trade, engagement and culture, and, I will say, engagement and human rights.

In addition, the sanctions proposed are linked to a catch-all annual report, thereby restricting the government’s ability to manage the sanctions regime and engage with Iran. As Richard Nephew, former security adviser to President Obama, said in his witness testimony:

Simply put, . . . this bill requires Iran to make progress on such a great variety of bad acts that it removes the Canadian government’s ability to respond to and reward improvement of any one particular element. “All for one and one for all” is a good rallying cry but, in sanctions practice, it often leads to the absence of any material progress along multiple fronts.

Honourable colleagues, please do not misunderstand me. I in no way sanction the human rights abuses in Iran. I do not. I am just not convinced that these proposed extensions or enhancements of the sanctions regime imposed unilaterally by Canada would have much, if any, impact at all.

To have results, I believe, sanctions need to be coordinated and use a multilateral approach. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action treaty between the permanent five of the Security Council, plus Germany and one other, has resulted in the Iran nuclear deal. Whether our neighbours to the south are going to be party to this deal or not, other stakeholders, especially the International Atomic Energy Agency, have stated that Iran is following through on its agreements.

I would also like to remind the chamber of a very proud moment in Canada’s history, when Prime Minister Brian Mulroney persuaded a reluctant Margaret Thatcher to go along, with President Ronald Reagan, to impose sanctions on South Africa to end the apartheid regime. That is the way sanctions can work. We are already part of the arrangements.

I will also ask this: If you are going to level sanctions against Iran because of human rights, what about other countries? Why one particular country? The Magnitsky Act that recently passed, with Senator Andreychuk’s wonderful leadership, doesn’t single out one nation. It singles out individuals from all nations who could fall into that category. So, why Iran? Why not Saudi Arabia? Why not China? What about our own history of human rights abuses against Canada’s native and indigenous peoples?

I think also about the 300,000-plus Iranian-Canadians who are proud now to call Canada their home. What do they want? Of course, there is no easy answer because no two Iranians, who are now Canadians, think alike — just as other Canadians. However, there is some evidence to show that they would like more engagement rather than less.

In conclusion, I want to quote Senator Cools, who said in committee:

Diplomacy is a strange animal. . . . Diplomacy is supposed to be there like a steady hand ready to reach out to the moment when there is an opportunity to dialogue because dialogue, at the end of the day, will avoid disaster and even wars.

For these reasons, and much as I respect and agree with the motivation behind the bill, I will not be supporting this bill.