The Honourable UN Member Republic of Iran

"[Canada is committed to] sustained international attention and pressure that will foster change [in Iran]. We therefore encourage you to support the Iran human rights resolution when this item is considered by the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly in November."
"Such a dialogue would enable us to meet, discuss and collaborate on issues of mutual concern, and to advance our shared interests in support of stability and prosperity."
[Canada believes it is "in the global interest for the GCC to take on an increasing role in both regional security matters as well as global economic ones."
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird

Canada's John Baird has been meeting with his Persian Gulf counterparts with a view to establishing more usefully close relations there, proposing a strategic dialogue between Canada and the Gulf Co-operation Council. The GCC is comprised of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These are all Arab states, and are majority-Sunni Islam populated and Sunni-ruled.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is not Arab, but Aryan, Persian. And it is largely Shiite-dominated and certainly Shia ruled as a theocratic totalitarian state. Iran envisions itself with a return to a dominant Islamist social-political role in the Middle East. And, as a Middle East power it knows how military might is vital to achieving such an end. It is well aware also that as a Shiite-led nation it represents a minority whose government is loathed by its neighbours.

There is rich social-political pasturage for Canada -- which deplores the abysmal human rights record of Iran, and its status as a terrorist-supporting country whose citizens are oppressed by their government -- to graze within for nourishment of its plan to continue outlawing the Republic and shaming it for its disgraceful record, within the United Nations.

Human rights within Iran are universally recognized as being basely violated under the administration of the Iranian Revolutionary government and its viciously militant Revolutionary Guard Corps. Violations of human rights within the country are rampant, including the oppression of religious sects, crackdowns on opposition parties, protesters and the media. The country is infamous for its use of torture, arbitrary detention and execution, along with the persecution of ethnic and religious minorities.

The Government of Canada has committed itself to the presentation of an annual resolution condemning Iran's human rights record before the United Nations. A putative and hugely celebrated breakthrough in relations from hostile to humbly accepting within the international community primarily of the West has not caused Canada to hesitate in its intentions.

There may be a thaw in relations between the United States and Iran, but those between Canada and Iran remain frozen, for nothing has changed to make it otherwise. The Government of Canada seeks real proof that Iran is prepared to embark on meaningful change in its programs, attitudes, values and relations both internally and externally. Fundamental to that would be proof that it is reconsidering its intention to continue its nuclear program, and opening it completely to external scrutiny.

The sham of the new president of Iran presenting himself and his country as having turned away completely from the confrontational style of his predecessor appears to have charmed many within the international community, but Canada continues to recognize the Iran it knows. And it knows that Iran is a past master at buying time, throwing suspicion off its intentions and managing through a process of sly promises it has no intention of keeping, to triumph over its adversaries.

Iran and Syria were the first countries that the Government of Canada listed as sponsors of terrorism since the enactment of Canada's Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act became legal in March 2012. Nothing between then and now has occurred to alter that status; if anything, the actions of the two countries have given solid proof that they are rightly named as terrorism sponsors and countries directly engaged in terror.