10 years into sanctions, Iranian diaspora get the runaround
Moslem Noori, the president of the Iranian-Canadian Congress (ICC), says the organization has for years tried to get the government to “resolve this issue,” including through a 2016 petition that garnered more than 16,000 signatures requesting reestablishing of diplomatic relations with Iran.
Another campaign in 2021 also saw Iranian-Canadians email their MPs “asking for easier access to consular services for Iranian Canadians.”
“With this,” Noori told NCM, “hundreds of Iranian-Canadians sent their concerns to MPs.”
Yet, nothing has been done about the issue, even as — or perhaps because — Canada has criticized the Iranian government over human rights violations and has initiated United Nations resolutions against the same.
Meanwhile, the Canadian government continues to ignore the basic rights of hundreds of thousands of Iranians across the diaspora in Canada and creating more difficulties for those in Iran who are forced to travel to neighboring countries for the simplest of consular and visa-related procedures every year.
Report regarding difficulties of Iranians to deal with the Iranian Interests Section in Washington, D.C., that can leave many in impossible situations by Hamid Moghimi:
Lack of Canadian visa offices in Iran ‘discriminatory,’ frustrates diaspora
"Iran is one of Canada’s leading source countries for immigrants and international students, yet Iranians have to travel to neighboring Turkey or the United Arab Emirates to apply for their visas and study permits first. Moslem Noori, the president of the Iranian-Canadian Congress, calls this plainly 'discriminatory'."
Report regarding the lack of Canadian Visa offices in Iran by Fernando Arce