Canada to list Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as terrorist group after years of pressure

The federal government is preparing to list Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization under Canada's Criminal Code after mounting pressure, CBC News has learned.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the talks say an announcement is expected as early as this week. Discussions are still ongoing and details not finalized, they said.

Once a group is placed on the country's terror list, police can charge anyone who financially or materially supports the group and banks can freeze assets.

The latest development comes after years of pressure including from the Association of Flight PS752 Victims, members of the Iranian Canadian community, the Conservative Party and the NDP to designate the whole militia group as a terrorist entity. MPs unanimously voted last month to do so.

The IRGC is a branch of the Iranian armed forces that answers directly to Iran's supreme leader. The IRGC shot down Flight PS752 above the skies of Tehran in January 2020, killing 175 passengers, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.

Ever since then, the victims' families have loudly campaigned for the government to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre renewed his calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to list the IRGC as a terrorist entity after Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed an estimated 1,200 people, according to Israeli government tallies. Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist organization, is also a member of a Tehran-backed alliance of militant groups in the Middle East known as the «Axis of Resistance.»

After years of reluctance by the government, Trudeau told victims' families at a ceremony on the fourth anniversary of the destruction of