Thank you, Mr. Chair,

Thank you, members of the committee.

Fifty days before the downing of flight PS752, more than 1,500 peaceful Iranian protesters were brutally murdered over a few days when the regime cut off the Internet and unleashed its vicious armed forces upon people in the streets in what became known as the Bloody November massacre.

The Boroumand foundation reports that over the past 45 years more than 540 cases of assassinations and bombings have been carried out around the world by the Islamic regime through the IRGC. Over the past decades, this nefarious organization has become a source of terror for Iranians and much of the world.

When we speak of the IRGC, we are referring to a vast nefarious military organization that has a stranglehold on all of Iran's resources, from mines to airports, from the film industry to sports, trading ports, factories, the bazaar and the currency trade, and even to a monopoly on provincial governorship posts. It is a monstrous entity that has no mercy on teachers, workers, artists and ordinary citizens, persecuting, imprisoning, torturing, raping and murdering with impunity to disrupt civil society and destroy any efforts by the people to organize peaceful resistance.

The murder of a beautiful young Iranian woman, Mahsa Jina Amini, opened a new chapter in the book of crimes against humanity by the Islamic regime. During the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution in 2022, when tens of thousands took to the streets in Iran and around the world, the United Nations' fact-finding committee reported at least 551 killings by IRGC forces.

Many of the victims were children and youth who were horrifically murdered around the country. Baluchistan, Kurdistan, Mazandaran and Tehran have suffered the highest casualties during the recent uprising. In only one day, at least 104 citizens were murdered by the IRGC in Baluchistan. Over 130 citizens were blinded by shots to the face.

Toomaj Salehi, the famous Iranian rapper, and many other young Iranian protesters are currently under threat of execution. Many activists are in prison around the country. So far, many young protesters have been executed, while thousands have been arrested and suffer under extreme prison conditions. In only the last year, the Islamic regime has executed 798 citizens, without any accountability towards the people of Iran or the international community.

All of these atrocities emanate from the top echelons of the power in the Islamic regime that is concentrated in the IRGC. This nefarious organization is a menace not only to Iranian society on all levels; it is also a threat to the security of the entire Middle East and the world. Calling the IRGC what it truly is and officially declaring it a terrorist organization is an urgent, necessary action that must be taken without delay in Canada and the rest of the free world.

The families of the Flight PS752 victims' association stand with all the survivors of the victims of this brutal organization in making this demand.

I will pass this on to Mr. Doustshenas.