The German government has not ruled out adding Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to the official list of terrorist entities.
When Secretary of State Melanie Joly repeatedly pressed why the IRGC was not designated a terrorist entity, she did not respond, but said in an interview with CTV Q&A host Vassy Kapelos that aired Sunday that the federal government “has the right tools “need to address this problem.”
“I think we need to work on the best tools for this. “I think that in the meantime we need to continue to ensure the protection of our diplomats or military personnel in the region,” Joly said.
While Canada considers Hamas a terrorist entity, it has not extended that designation to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian armed forces. The US State Department recently highlighted Iran's funding and arming of Hamas while imposing sanctions.
“It is also very important that Hamas lay down its weapons,” Joly also said. “That is also part of our approach when it comes to Hamas. When it comes to Iran, we know that Iran is a state sponsor of terror because there are clear connections between its various proxies, including of course Hamas.”
“Despite this, we take one of the strictest and toughest approaches in the world when it comes to Iran,” she added, noting that certain members and a branch of the IRGC are on the list of terrorist organizations, as well as sanctions against other Iranian officials and Corporations.
And while the IRGC as a whole is not on Canada's list of terrorist organizations, its “secret” offshoot, the Corps' Quds Force, is.
“But I am particularly committed to working with the Iranian community and especially with the PS752 families, with whom I have had a lot of contact on this issue, because I know that the community is afraid of the IRGC,” Joly also said .
The IRGC shot down Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 in January 2020, and the victims' families have since called on the Canadian government to add the IRGC to its list of terrorist organizations.
There have been renewed calls for this since the October 7 attacks, including from conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. Several members of the U.S. Congress also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week calling on the Canadian government to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization.
The United States did this in 2019 under the Trump administration and in May 2022, current US President Joe Biden decided to keep the designation.
In 2018, Joly voted in the lower house for an opposition motion to classify the IRGC as a terrorist organization under the criminal code, but the federal government has not yet done so.
Now Joly says she has been working with “key Iranian community leaders” in Canada on the issue and that “we will be doing more in the coming year.”
Asked whether her comment about ensuring the “protection of our diplomats (and) our military” meant she was worried about retaliation from Iran if Canada designates the IRGC a terrorist organization, Joly said she “can.” “Don’t express yourself.”
“But what I can tell you, when it comes to diplomacy, reciprocity is always an issue,” she added. “However, I can tell you that we must have the right tools to address this problem, and I am committed to working with public safety and justice to develop the right tools.”
Joly also said Canada has “done a lot” regarding the IRGC, “but we can do more and we will do more.”
“So I’ll have more to say in the coming weeks,” she said.
When Kapelos asked again whether this meant designation as a terrorist entity was possible, Joly said the federal government would “work with the community on that.”
“And I think that we need to be creative to develop new approaches and new tools that allow the government to do what is needed,” she said.
Joly also discussed in her interview whether she believes Israel violated international humanitarian law in its response to the October 7 Hamas attacks and whether she believes a two-state solution is possible in the region .
Watch the full interview on CTV's Question Time on Sunday at 11 a.m. ET.
With files from Rachel Aiello, Senior Digital Parliamentary Reporter at CTVNews.ca