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Bill S-219

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First Session, Forty-second Parliament,

64-65 Elizabeth II, 2015-2016

SENATE OF CANADA

BILL S-219
An Act to deter Iran-sponsored terrorism, incitement to hatred, and human rights violations
FIRST READING, February 23, 2016

THE HONOURABLE SENATOR Tkachuk
4211335


SUMMARY

This enactment provides for an ongoing analysis of the incidence of terrorist activity, support of terrorism, incitement to hatred, and human rights violations, emanating from Iran, the identification of Iranian officials who are responsible for such activities and the strengthening of Canada’s non-nuclear sanctions regime against Iran by

(a) requiring the Minister of Foreign Affairs to publish an annual report on Iran-sponsored terrorism, incitement to hatred, and human rights violations that includes a description of measures taken by the Government of Canada to address those activities;

(b) providing that the Special Economic Measures (Iran) Regulations apply in respect of the following, as if they were persons whose names are listed in Schedule 1 of those regulations:

(i) the Execution of Imam Khomenei’s Order (EIKO),

(ii) Iranian officials named in the annual report as being persons the Minister believes to be responsible for terrorist activity, support of terrorism, incitement to hatred, or serious human rights violations, and

(iii) other entities named in the annual report, including those that the Minister believes have been owned or controlled by EIKO or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or the officers of which have been acting on behalf of EIKO or the IRGC during the five preceding years;

(c) providing that Canada’s current sanctions regime against Iran cannot be eased unless two consecutive annual reports conclude that there is no credible evidence of terrorist activity or incitement to hatred emanating from Iran and that there has been significant progress in Iran in respect of human rights; and

(d) requiring the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to consider whether to recommend that the IRGC be named a listed entity (terrorist group) under the Criminal Code.

The enactment also provides for the freezing of assets of permanent residents and foreign nationals who are listed in the annual report as having been responsible for terrorist-related activities, incitement to hatred, or serious human rights violations, and amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to render such persons whose actions would, if committed in Canada, have constituted an indictable offence, as well as persons who have served in the IRGC or the Basij-e Mostazafan, inadmissible under that Act.

Available on the Senate of Canada website at the following address:
www.sencanada.ca/en


TABLE OF PROVISIONS

An Act to deter Iran-sponsored terrorism, incitement to hatred, and human rights violations

Preamble

Short Title
1 

Non-Nuclear Sanctions Against Iran Act

Interpretation
2 

Definitions

Report on Iran-Sponsored Terrorism, Incitement to Hatred, and Human Rights Violations
3 

Annual report

Sanctions and Other Measures
4 

Extension of application of the Regulations

5 

Continuation of sanction

6 

Consideration of designation of IRGC as listed entity

7 

Freezing of assets

Related Amendments
8 

Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

Coming into Force
10 

One month after royal assent



1st Session, 42nd Parliament,

64-65 Elizabeth II, 2015-2016

SENATE OF CANADA

BILL S-219

An Act to deter Iran-sponsored terrorism, incitement to hatred, and human rights violations

Preamble

Whereas the Charter of the United Nations and customary international law impose on all nations the responsibility to promote and protect human rights as a mutual obligation of all members of the international community and as an obligation of a state towards its citizens;

Whereas Iran is a member State of the United Nations that voted in favour of United Nations General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) on December 10, 1948, that proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and has signed and ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child;

Whereas in the third report to the United Nations Human Rights Council pursuant to Council resolution 16/9, submitted in March 2014, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran communicated that under the leadership of its current president, Hassan Rouhani, Iran continues to engage in execution, torture and other forms of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, repression and persecution of religious and ethnic minorities — such as the Bahá’í community — imprisonment of political dissidents, and widespread and systematic discrimination against women;

Whereas Canadians, including the late Zahra Kazemi, have also been affected and victimized by Iran’s human rights violations;

Whereas Iran has the highest per capita rate of executions of any state and continues to execute juvenile offenders;

Whereas Canada supports the people of Iran in their efforts to advance democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and aspires to have a mutually beneficial relationship with Iran that is based on respect for human rights and the rule of law;

Whereas, since 2003, Canada has sponsored resolutions at the United Nations General Assembly drawing attention to the violation of human rights in Iran, the most recent of which was co-sponsored by a large cross-regional group of countries, approved by the Third Committee of the General Assembly and adopted by the General Assembly plenary session;

Whereas, on March 30, 2009, the House of Commons concurred in the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (40th Parliament, 2nd Session), entitled Report on the Bahá’í community in Iran, which called on the House of Commons to condemn the ongoing persecution of the Bahá’í minority in Iran;

Whereas, on October 27, 2009, the House of Commons unanimously condemned the Iranian regime’s violations of human rights;

Whereas the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (40th Parliament, 3rd Session) found in a report adopted by the Committee in November 2010 and presented to the House as its third report in December 2010, that the Iranian regime has a long history of systemic and widespread human rights violations against its own people, and that these abuses violate its population’s right to life, freedom of political opinion and freedom from discrimination based on religion, sex, ethnicity, language and sexual orientation, and that the Iranian leadership’s inflammatory rhetoric constitutes incitement to genocide, in violation of the prohibition against incitement in Article 3 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;

Whereas, in 2012, Senators rose to speak on an inquiry that called the attention of the Senate to egregious human rights abuses in Iran — particularly the use of torture and the cruel and inhuman treatment of unlawfully incarcerated political prisoners — and members of the House of Commons sat in Committee of the Whole in a take-note debate on the state of human rights in Iran;

Whereas, on March 25, 2015, the House of Commons unanimously adopted a motion to explore sanctions against foreign nationals responsible for human rights violations in foreign countries that are unwilling to conduct thorough investigations of those violations;

Whereas Canada has a responsibility to do all it reasonably can to prevent and condemn the incitement to hatred and genocide that emerges systematically from Iran in violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination;

Whereas Iran is also widely considered the world’s pre-eminent state sponsor of terrorism, responsible for mass violence and damage through its support of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Syrian President Bashar al Assad, and has been listed by Canada as a foreign state supporter of terrorism pursuant to section 6.‍1 of the State Immunity Act;

Whereas the IRGC is the central force behind Iran’s illicit and illegal activities, including Iran’s support of international terrorism and systemic human rights abuses;

Whereas the Qods Force — the special forces unit of the IRGC — has been listed under the Criminal Code as a terrorist entity in Canada since 2012;

Whereas experts have noted that Iranian intervention in the Syrian Civil War is blurring the distinctions between the various branches of the IRGC, effectively turning the entire organization into an expeditionary force, and some Canadian parliamentarians have called for the entire IRGC to be listed as a terrorist entity in Canada;

Whereas Canadians have been injured and killed as a result of Iran-sponsored acts of terrorism;

Whereas comprehensive, calibrated and consequential sanctions are the best available peaceful instruments to deter Iran’s terrorist activity and support of terrorism, its incitement to hatred and its violations of human rights;

And whereas, while the adoption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on July 14, 2015, calls for the scaling back of nuclear-related sanctions against Iran, terrorism and human rights violations emanating from Iran continue to occur and sanctions to deter such conduct must be strengthened and maintained;

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

Short Title

Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Non-Nuclear Sanctions Against Iran Act.

Interpretation

Definitions

2 (1) The following definitions apply in this Act.

annual report means the annual report on Iran-sponsored terrorism, incitement to hatred, and human rights violations published under subsection 3(1).

EIKO means the Execution of Imam Khomenei’s Order.

human rights means the rights and freedoms set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

identifiable group has the same meaning as in section 318 of the Criminal Code.

incitement to hatred means any public comment, whether written or unwritten, that incites hatred or contempt against an identifiable group or a member State of the United Nations, and includes any public comment that

  • (a) advocates or promotes genocide as defined in subsection 318(2) of the Criminal Code;

  • (b) advocates or promotes the elimination of any member State of the United Nations; or

  • (c) otherwise incites hatred against an identifiable group or a member State through dehumanizing or demonizing language.

Iran means the Islamic Republic of Iran and includes

  • (a) its government and any of its departments or agencies; and

  • (b) its political subdivisions and the governments and any departments or agencies of those political subdivisions.

IRGC means the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Minister means the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Regulations means the Special Economic Measures (Iran) Regulations.

support of terrorism has the same meaning as in section 2.‍1 of the State Immunity Act.

terrorist activity has the same meaning as in subsection 83.‍01(1) of the Criminal Code.

Emanating from Iran

(2) For the purposes of this Act, an activity emanates from Iran if the activity is directed, facilitated, carried out, sponsored or endorsed by Iran, its officials or other persons acting on its behalf.

Report on Iran-Sponsored Terrorism, Incitement to Hatred, and Human Rights Violations

Annual report

3 (1) The Minister must, on or before March 31 of each year, publish an annual report on Iran-sponsored terrorism, incitement to hatred, and human rights violations that includes

  • (a) subject to paragraph (b), statistical information on the incidence of terrorist activity, support of terrorism, incitement to hatred, and human rights violations emanating from Iran during the immediately preceding year;

  • (b) for the first annual report that is published after this subsection comes into force, the statistical information referred to in paragraph (a) in respect of the calendar years from 2003 until the year immediately before the year in which the report is published;

  • (c) a list of persons who are officials of Iran or acting on behalf of Iran, including members of paramilitary organizations, that the Minister believes on reasonable grounds are responsible for terrorist activity, support of terrorism, incitement to hatred, or serious human rights violations, on or after January 1, 2003;

  • (d) a list of entities, as defined in section 2 of the Special Economic Measures Act, that are not, at the end of the immediately preceding year, listed in Schedule 1 to the Regulations, and

    • (i) that the Minister believes on reasonable grounds were, at any time during the five preceding years, owned or controlled by EIKO or the IRGC, or acting as a front, agent or affiliate of EIKO or the IRGC, or

    • (ii) the officers of which the Minister believes on reasonable grounds were, at any time during the five preceding years, officers or persons otherwise acting on behalf of EIKO, the IRGC or any front, agent or affiliate of EIKO or the IRGC;

  • (e) a description of the measures the Government of Canada has taken during the immediately preceding year to address terrorist activity, support of terrorism, incitement to hatred, and human rights violations, emanating from Iran, including any measures taken under subsection 6(3); and

  • (f) a list of persons who have been convicted, during the immediately preceding year, of an offence under the Special Economic Measures Act for contravening section 3 of the Regulations.

Evidence

(2) In preparing the annual report, the Minister must consider credible publications, databases or information published or compiled by government agencies, non-governmental organizations or other entities.

Examination of conduct

(3) In preparing the annual report, the Minister must consider the conduct of, among others, the following officials of Iran:

  • (a) the Supreme Leader;

  • (b) the President;

  • (c) the Minister of Intelligence and Security;

  • (d) members of the Council of Guardians;

  • (e) members of the Expediency Council;

  • (f) the Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC;

  • (g) the Commander of the Basij-e Mostazafan;

  • (h) the Commander of Ansar-e-Hezbollah;

  • (i) the Commander of the IRGC Qods Force;

  • (j) the Commander-in-Chief of the Police Force;

  • (k) senior officials of an organization referred to in any of paragraphs (d) to (j); and

  • (l) senior officials of the following:

    • (i) the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran,

    • (ii) EIKO,

    • (iii) an entity owned or controlled by EIKO or the IRGC,

    • (iv) the Islamic Consultative Assembly,

    • (v) the Council of Ministers,

    • (vi) the Assembly of Experts,

    • (vii) the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics,

    • (viii) the Ministry of Justice,

    • (ix) the Ministry of Interior, and

    • (x) the prison system of Iran.

Report to Parliament

(4) The Minister must cause the annual report to be laid before each House of Parliament on any of the first 15 days on which that House is sitting after the report is published.

Definition of officer

(5) For the purposes of subparagraph (1)‍(d)‍(ii) and subsection (7), officer, in respect of an entity, includes an official of the entity and any other person who orders, controls or otherwise directs the carrying out of an activity of the entity.

Meaning of responsible

(6) For the purposes of paragraph (1)‍(c), a person is responsible for an activity referred to in that paragraph if the person

  • (a) facilitates or carries out the activity; or

  • (b) orders, controls or otherwise directs the carrying out of the activity.

Meaning of owned or controlled

(7) For the purposes of subparagraphs (1)‍(d)‍(i) and (3)‍(l)‍(iii), an entity is owned or controlled by EIKO or the IRGC if

  • (a) EIKO or the IRGC, as the case may be, holds a 10% or greater equity interest in the entity; or

  • (b) officers or persons otherwise acting on behalf of EIKO, the IRGC or any front, agent or affiliate of EIKO or the IRGC, as the case may be, whether individually or jointly,

    • (i) own shares of the entity to which are attached more than 50% of the votes that may be cast to elect directors of the entity,

    • (ii) hold more than 50% of the seats on the board of directors of the entity, or

    • (iii) own a controlling stake of the entity; or

  • (c) an officer or person otherwise acting on behalf of EIKO, the IRGC or any front, agent or affiliate of EIKO or the IRGC, as the case may be, is the chair of the board of directors, the chief executive officer or an officer who has supervision over and direction of the day-to-day operations of the entity.

Sanctions and Other Measures

Extension of application of the Regulations

4 The Regulations apply in respect of EIKO and any person who is listed in an annual report pursuant to paragraph 3(1)‍(c), other than a person whose name is listed in Schedule 1 to these Regulations, or pursuant to paragraph 3(1)‍(d) as if they were a person whose name is listed in Schedule 1 to those Regulations.

Continuation of sanctions

5 (1) Any orders or regulations made or any other measures taken under the Special Economic Measures Act in relation to Iran, as they existed on February 5, 2016, must not be revoked, repealed, amended or altered in a manner that results in those orders, regulations or measures being less restrictive or prohibitive than they were on that date unless the Minister concludes in two consecutive annual reports that, in respect of the calendar year immediately preceding the year in which the report was published,

  • (a) there is no credible evidence of terrorist activity or support of terrorism emanating from Iran;

  • (b) there is no credible evidence of incidents of incitement to hatred emanating from Iran; and

  • (c) Iran has made significant progress in respect of human rights.

Criteria

(2) Progress in respect of human rights, as referred to in paragraph (1)‍(c), may be measured by, but is not limited to, whether Iran

  • (a) allows the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran to visit Iran and to investigate conditions without any restrictions;

  • (b) ratifies and implements the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;

  • (c) unconditionally releases all political prisoners, including the citizens of Iran detained in the aftermath of the presidential election held in Iran on June 12, 2009;

  • (d) allows for freedom of expression, including less restricted access to the Internet; and

  • (e) prohibits by law all forms of discrimination on the basis of colour, race, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, or mental or physical disability, and enforces such a law, including by repealing existing laws that deny equal rights to any identifiable group.

Consideration of designation of IRGC as listed entity

6 (1) Not later than 60 days after the day on which this section comes into force and at least every six months after that, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness must consider whether to recommend to the Governor in Council that the IRGC be placed on the list established under subsection 83.‍05(1) of the Criminal Code.

Recommendation if criteria met

(2) The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness must make a recommendation under subsection 83.‍05(1.‍1) of the Criminal Code if he or she has reasonable grounds to believe that the IRGC is an entity referred to in paragraph 83.‍05(1)‍(a) or (b) of that Act.

Determination by Governor in Council

(3) If the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness makes the recommendation referred to in subsection (2), the Governor in Council must, as soon as possible,

  • (a) make a determination under subsection 83.‍05(1) of the Criminal Code in respect of the IRGC; and

  • (b) if the criteria set out in subsection 83.‍05(1) of that Act are met, place the IRGC on the list established in accordance with that subsection.

Detailed explanation

(4) The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness must advise the Minister as to whether he or she has, after considering the matter under subsection (1), made a recommendation referred to in that subsection, and must provide the Minister with a detailed explanation as to his or her reasons for making or not making the recommendation, which must be included by the Minister in the annual report.

Application of provisions

(5) For greater certainty, if the IRGC is placed on the list pursuant to subsection (3), subsections 83.‍05(2) to (11) of the Criminal Code apply to the IRGC as a listed entity.

Suspension of operation of provisions

(6) The Governor in Council may, by order, suspend the operation of subsections (1) to (5) if the Minister concludes in two consecutive annual reports that, in respect of the calendar year immediately preceding the year in which the report was published, there is no credible evidence of terrorist activity or support of terrorism emanating from Iran.

Duration of suspension

(7) If an order is made under subsection (6), the operation of subsections (1) to (5) is suspended until such time as an order is made under subsection (8).

Cessation of suspension by order in council

(8) The Governor in Council must, on the recommendation of the Minister, make an order that subsections (1) to (5) cease to be suspended if satisfied that there has been a resumption of terrorist activity or support of terrorism emanating from Iran.

Freezing of assets

7 (1) The Governor in Council must consider whether to, by order, cause to be seized, frozen or sequestrated, in the manner set out in the order, any property situated in Canada that is held by or on behalf of a permanent resident or foreign national who is listed in an annual report pursuant to paragraph 3(1)‍(c).

Definitions

(2) In this section, permanent resident and foreign national have the meanings assigned to those expressions by subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Related Amendments

2001, c. 27

Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

8 (1) Subsection 35(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act is amended by striking out “or” at the end of paragraph (b) and by adding the following after that paragraph:

  • Start of inserted block

    (b.‍1) being a person who

    • (i) is listed in an annual report pursuant to paragraph 3(1)‍(c) of the Non-Nuclear Sanctions Against Iran Act as having been responsible for terrorist activity, support of terrorism, incitement to hatred, or serious human rights violations, or

    • (ii) has served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or the Basij-e Mostazafan; or

      End of inserted block

(2) Section 35 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (1):

Exception

Start of inserted block

(2) Subparagraph (1)‍(b.‍1)‍(i) does not apply unless the Attorney General of Canada determines that the act for which the permanent resident or foreign national is responsible — referred to in that subparagraph — would, if committed in Canada, have constituted an indictable offence under any Act of Parliament.

End of inserted block

9 (1) Subsections 42.‍1(1) and (2) of the Act are replaced by the following:

Exception — application to Minister

42.‍1 (1) The Minister may, on application by a foreign national, declare that the matters referred to in section 34, paragraphs 35(1)‍(b) Insertion start to Insertion end (c) and subsection 37(1) do not constitute inadmissibility in respect of the foreign national if they satisfy the Minister that it is not contrary to the national interest.

Exception — Minister’s own initiative

(2) The Minister may, on the Minister’s own initiative, declare that the matters referred to in section 34, paragraphs 35(1)‍(b) Insertion start to Insertion end (c) and subsection 37(1) do not constitute inadmissibility in respect of a foreign national if the Minister is satisfied that it is not contrary to the national interest.

(2) Section 42.‍1 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (3):

Exception

Start of inserted block

(4) The Minister may, on application by a permanent resident or foreign national listed in an annual report pursuant to paragraph 3(1)‍(c) of the Non-Nuclear Sanctions Against Iran Act as having been responsible for incitement to hatred, declare that the permanent resident or foreign national is not inadmissible by virtue of subparagraph 35(1)‍(b.‍1)‍(i) if they satisfy the Minister that they publicly repudiated the incitement to hatred, believe the incitement to be false, and regret the incitement and any harm caused by it.

End of inserted block

Coming into Force

One month after royal assent

10 This Act comes into force one month after the day on which it receives royal assent.

Published under authority of the Senate of Canada


EXPLANATORY NOTES

Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
Clause 8: (1) Existing text of relevant portions of subsection 35(1):

35 (1) A permanent resident or a foreign national is inadmissible on grounds of serious criminality for

  • . . . 

  • (b) being a prescribed senior official in the service of a government that, in the opinion of the Minister, engages or has engaged in terrorism, systematic or gross human rights violations, or genocide, a war crime or a crime against humanity within the meaning of subsections 6(3) to (5) of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act; or

(2) New.
Clause 9: (1) Existing text of subsection 42.‍1(1) and (2):

42.‍1 (1) The Minister may, on application by a foreign national, declare that the matters referred to in section 34, paragraphs 35(1)‍(b) and (c) and subsection 37(1) do not constitute inadmissibility in respect of the foreign national if they satisfy the Minister that it is not contrary to the national interest.

(2) The Minister may, on the Minister’s own initiative, declare that the matters referred to in section 34, paragraphs 35(1)‍(b) and (c) and subsection 37(1) do not constitute inadmissibility in respect of a foreign national if the Minister is satisfied that it is not contrary to the national interest.‍

(2) New.

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