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Iranian diaspora in Canada reacts to Israel's bombing
Mona Ghassemi, president of the Iranian Canadian Congress, was at home in Montreal when she first heard about the Israeli strikes in Iran early Friday. She called her mother, learning her aunt and cousin in Iran awakened to the sounds of nearby missile blasts but were unharmed.
'Residential buildings were hit, and there were children among the killed. So this, of course, is very devastating,' Ms. Ghassemi said.
The Israeli military attack is reverberating 10,000 kilometres away as the Iranian diaspora in Canada reels from the sudden escalation of a long-simmering conflict.
Within the community of more than 200,000 concentrated in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto, anxiety about friends and family is paired with speculation about the future of the regime and worry about the long-term fallout from further violence.
Ms. Ghassemi joined the Iranian Canadian Congress (ICC) to protest escalating violence in the country after an American airstrike killed Iranian military officer Qassem Soleimani in 2020. Since then, she's advocated for consular services and faster visa processing for Iranians in Canada. She hopes Canada contributes to de-escalating violence in Iran.
'The ICC has taken the approach that we believe that diplomacy is better in the long run for everybody, and isolating Iran is not the answer because the sanctions and everything, they impact regular people,' Ms. Ghassemi said.
Rona Abdi, a Master's student at Simon Fraser University, said she's been busy with calls from family in Tehran since news of the attack broke.
'We are shocked right now,' said Ms. Abdi. 'Second by second, I'm refreshing my phone to get information about the news or my family.'
While she doesn't support war, she said that some people in Iran have been 'praying' for something like this to happen that might help take the Iranian government out of power.
Ms. Abdi said she moved to Canada because she wasn't feeling safe in Iran and she wanted more education and career opportunities. The Iranian government, Ms. Abdi said, isn't keen on hiring women.
'If I didn't come to Canada, maybe I would have died so far,' said Ms. Abdi. 'They don't hesitate to kill women and girls there.'
The move to Canada, Ms. Abdi said, meant largely starting over from scratch, including leaving her job as a biomedical engineer in Iran, to work in a Canadian factory.
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While she's lived a great life in Canada, she'd like to be able to go home to Iran and help people there. She hasn't been back since she left the country seven years ago.
'It's impossible right now, all the airports are closed or the flights are cancelled,' said Ms. Abdi.
Other members of the diaspora who fled oppression in Iran celebrated the Israeli strikes, particularly those targeting military leaders.
'It's a good day,' said Mojdeh Shahriari, an Iranian-Canadian lawyer and co-founder of StopIRGC, an organization opposed to the notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the country's armed forces. 'A world without IRGC commanders is a better world for everyone. So I'm happy.'
The Liberal government's statements about de-escalation are meaningless to Ms. Shahriari, who preferred Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's statement calling the Israeli strikes 'a gift.'
'Iranian people have shown over and over again that they are not behind this regime,' Ms. Shahriari said. 'Don't be afraid. Support the Iranian people.'
Sahar Choulani, president of the Iran-Quebec Chamber of Commerce and director of the Montreal mental health non-profit Multi-Écoute, worries about the long-term psychological effects of a war between Israel and Iran.
'War isn't limited to material destruction. It deeply infiltrates the soul of generations,' she said in a statement. 'We speak often of deaths and ruins, but much less about lasting psychological wounds that it leaves in children, women, refugees and families. An attack against a country − whatever name we give it − puts in danger the psychological safety of millions of people.
'In our centre, we work every day with migrants and refugees who have been directly touched by war and insecurity. They live with memories of bombings, the loss of their loves ones, and a deep feeling of abandonment. They are silent but devastating forms of suffering.'
