They came to Canada for safety. Now they’re suspected of supporting the regime they fled

Not the first time for this reporting. Valid concerns regarding conscripts who had little choice:

…Hundreds of applicants received similar letters on Aug. 6 and 7, according to Nahid Rahmati, a representative of the Unheard Conscripts Advocacy Network. 

The group seeks to represent people conscripted to the IRGC and advocate for them within the Canadian immigration system.

Rahmati said she’s never seen anyone receive a PFL and be accepted into Canada.

“I have seen lots of cases that have been rejected,” she said. “They got the PFL and they got rejected.”

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said in a statement it could not confirm the number of letters sent to permanent residency applicants in relation to potential IRGC ties.

CBC News spoke with several recipients of the letters, many of whom declined to speak on the record for fear of retribution from the government of Iran.

Letters part of ‘normal’ process

In a statement, Canada’s immigration and citizenship department said the listing of the guard as a terrorist entity prompts an “assessment of inadmissibility concerns where applications indicate a connection to the IRGC.”

“This is a normal part of applying Canada’s immigration law and does not mean that every person who served in the IRGC is automatically inadmissible.”

Conscripts said it is difficult to prove they did not participate in the IRGC after their mandatory service ended. The IRGC does not keep a list of people who left, according to Hossein Raeesi, a criminal and human rights lawyer who practiced in Iran for two decades.

“Someone who served compulsory military service with the IRGC is not considered as a member of the IRGC,” he said.

CBC News asked the Canadian government which documents it would accept as proof that an applicant was not a member of the IRGC beyond mandatory service. 

“There is no single prescribed set of documents that applies to every case,” the agency said in a statement.

Conscripts served under duress, lawyer says

Many of the conscripts served under duress, according to Arghavan Gerami, an immigration lawyer based in Ottawa. 

Two of her current clients have received PFLs and she worries Canada is expecting them to prove they tried to resist conscription….

Source: They came to Canada for safety. Now they’re suspected of supporting the regime they fled