Below is a letter sent by the Vice President of the Iranian Canadian Congress to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and relevant Ministers, Critics and Shadow Ministers demanding help for Iranian Canadians stranded in coronavirus-stricken Iran

I am writing this letter to you as Vice-President of the Iranian Canadian Congress (ICC), a non-profit, non-partisan, and non-religious organization dedicated to defending the interests of the Iranian-Canadian community, a population estimated at 300,000 across Canada.

As you are aware, the coronavirus epidemic is affecting numerous countries across the world and many countries are extracting their citizens from the countries that are most affected. Iran is the latest of these affected countries, with many neighbouring countries are shutting off travel and shutting their borders. Further, many airlines have stopped flying in and out of the country due to the outbreak in Iran.

Over the weekend, the ICC put out a call to the Iranian-Canadian community to contact us if they or their family is in Iran and unable to leave the country. 

The response was unexpected and massive, with dozens of Canadian citizens and residents contacting the ICC within the past 48 hours telling us that they are effectively stranded in Iran and are unable to leave by any means. 

As such, we ask that you immediately arrange for Canadians in Iran to leave the country and return directly to Canada, as Canada has done with Canadians stranded in like manner in China.

We look forward to receiving a response from your offices on this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

Pouyan Tabasinejad

Vice President 

Iranian Canadian Congress