Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand speaks to reporters in The Hague on Tuesday.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says Ottawa remains very concerned about possible Iranian government activities in Canada after former justice minister Irwin Cotler warned Tehran may have activated sleeper cells in this country.
Speaking to reporters in The Hague on Tuesday, where she and other Canadian officials including Prime Minister Mark Carney are attending a NATO summit, Ms. Anand addressed comments made by Mr. Cotler to The Globe and Mail.
“In addition to Mr. Cotler’s remarks, we are very concerned about foreign interference, including the types that were highlighted by him, and we’re very concerned about the Iranian regime, generally speaking, that’s why we declared it a terrorist entity,” Ms. Anand said.
Former justice minister Irwin Cotler warns Iran may have activated sleeper cells in Canada
In 2022, the Canadian government designated the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran as a regime that engages in terrorism. Ms. Anand said the threat posed by Iran is why Canada has not had official diplomatic relations with Tehran since 2012.
“We will continue to take any possibility of foreign interference extremely seriously, and that is underscored by the work that we will advocate for here at NATO, as well as the work that we were doing at the G7.”
Mr. Cotler, who is on an Iranian hit list, told The Globe on Monday that he fears Tehran may have activated sleeper cells in Canada to carry out acts of violence against opponents of the regime.
Former justice minister Irwin CotlerSean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
A noted Canadian human-rights advocate and critic of the Iranian clerical regime, Mr. Cotler declined to discuss his personal security situation since war broke out between Israel and Iran on June 12.
The Globe reported late last year that Iran allegedly plotted to assassinate Mr. Cotler, founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. He also served as Canada’s first special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combatting antisemitism from 2020 to 2023.
“Right now, their policy is to target Jews and others abroad,” he said in an interview Monday, speaking of the Iranian regime. “We also know that they activate sleeper cells that are already present in the country.”
Mr. Cotler said it is important that Canadian spy and law enforcement authorities are working collaboratively “because we don’t want any untoward Iranian penetration at this time.”
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Public Safety Canada spokesperson Noémie Allard said the terror threat remains at medium level, “meaning that a violent extremist attack is a realistic possibility at this time.”
She added that law enforcement remain on alert and “continue to monitor the residual impact of the evolving situation in the Middle East.”
Former RCMP commissioner Bob Paulson said Monday that the Mounties and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service will be “lit up” to look for activated sleeper cells, criminal networks linked to Iran and lone-wolf attacks.
At times like this, it’s important for Canadians to be vigilant and to alert the police if they suspect someone may be about to commit a terrorist act, Mr. Paulson said.
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In a report last week, CSIS said the agency “continues to investigate threats to life emanating from the Islamic Republic of Iran based on credible intelligence.”
CSIS said Iran mainly uses proxies, such as criminal networks, to go after perceived enemies living in Canada. That activity will continue in 2025 “and may increase depending on developments in the Middle East and the Iranian regime’s own threat perceptions,” the spy agency said.
Mr. Cotler had been under RCMP protection after the Oct. 7, 2023, mass killings in Israel by Hamas gunmen. CSIS told him that he was a high-profile target of Iran, a long-time sponsor of the militant group.
He has been on Iran’s radar for his global campaign since 2008 to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity. He has also represented Iranian political prisoners as a lawyer and is a strong supporter of Israel.
In June, 2024, under pressure from opposition parties, Canada joined the United States in declaring the IRGC a banned terrorist group. U.S. authorities say the IRGC’s elite Quds Force is largely responsible for foreign operations such as arming Hezbollah and Hamas and carrying out assassinations.
Canadian law enforcement, including the Canada Border Services Agency, will likely increase vigilance at border crossings in case Iranian assets in this country are used to target the U.S.