I, Amir-hassan Ghaseminejad-Tafreshi, am a faculty member at School of Business at Capilano University. I have taught News Media, the Public, and Democracy, Political Communication, as well as research methods courses at Simon Fraser University (SFU), and computer science, machine learning, and business courses at other universities. 

As a researcher at SFU, I have developed statistical and process models of criminal justice system, have participated in healthcare modeling; and have researched the impact of broadband Internet on rural and remote communities in BC. My publications are about society and technology interrelationships, voting systems, citizen engagement in democracy, media effects, modeling social systems, science and technology studies, and high dimensional data analysis. I received my PhD from the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology at SFU in 2019. I have a Master’s in Computer Hardware, and a Bachelor’s in Electronics, both from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at Sharif University of Technology. 

My civic engagement includes public lectures on the theories and practices of democracy for Canadian and Iranian communities in Vancouver, and I have advocated for proportional representation as the voting system in BC.  

I believe in seeking win-win solutions in international rivalries among regional powers and superpowers, and the formation of closer economic relations while respecting and understanding social realities through establishment of closer economic and cultural interchange. Use of diplomacy (instead of coercion) encourages solidarity, peace, fairness, and integration. I advocate this strategy as the moral path to solve the injustices within societies and worldwide. I believe that expansionism of military blocs and use force in the multipolar world that is being formed can have undesirable consequences of separation of inhabitants of this tiny planet, reduction in peaceful production, and a decline in cooperation among the humanity to solve fundamental challenges we face. 

While creating an environment of intimidation and threat has been used by various political players to silence the diversity of opinion, freedom of expression is one of the fundamental requirements of democratic discourse in a healthy public sphere. I believe that observations during the past year have shown that one of the most urgent roles ICC should play for Iranian-Canadian community is to provide the missing platform for practicing peaceful, respectful, realistic, and rational dialog among the community members with diverse ideological goals.  

I believe, as a Canadian, I should not invite other countries to interfere with Canada's political affairs; and as an Iranian, I should not invite other countries to interfere in Iran’s political affairs. The Iranian Canadian Congress, which is a Canadian institution, must protect the interests of Canadian Iranians and try to facilitate their performance, and solve their problems, in Canada. Given that the names of the members of the congress are public and that ICC is not registered as a political organization, it should remain non-partisan regarding political issues within Iran or Canada; and let the political institutions pursue those endeavors.