Letter to Prime Minister of Canada

Dear Right Honourable Prime Minister of Canada,

I am an Iranian/Canadian residing in Ottawa and the Director of the Human Rights Committee of Marze Por Gohar, an exiled political party that is striving for regime change and democracy in Iran. To begin with, I am writing to congratulate you on your victory in the recent elections. I know I am speaking for a large number of the Iranian Community when I say that we are pleased with the election results. If you recall, I was honoured to become acquainted with you a few years ago while demonstrating in front of the home of Mr. Mohammad Mousavi who was the ambassador of the Islamic Republic at that time. Your home was across from Mr. Mousavi’s and we were very pleased when you joined your wife in standing with us in support of our cause. I was quite impressed with you at that time and this eventually lead to my contribution of services to your campaign in the 2004 elections.

It was unfortunate that the Liberal Government had taken a soft approach towards the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) when they should have been uncompromising in light of the extreme human rights abuses, the pursuit of nuclear weapons, and the murder of the Canadian/Iranian Journalist Zahra Kazemi. Instead of taking a stand against these atrocities, the Liberal Government chose to yield in order to enter into lucrative business deals with the IRI. In fact, it was on the first anniversary of Ms. Kazemi’s death that the Right Honourable former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien went to Iran as an advisor for a Canadian oil company.

The Liberal Government had disappointed the Iranian Community on numerous occasions and I am extremely happy that we have a new and accountable government that takes the well being of all its citizens into consideration. As you may know, there has been great labour unrest in Iran in the past few weeks. I attended a protest in front of the Islamic republic’s Embassy on February 2, which was organized to support the bus drivers in Iran. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Canadian Labour Congress’s Executive Vice President Barbara Byers was also in attendance. I have been active in the resistance against the Islamic regime for four years and we had never had any person of that calibre attend our demonstrations. I was quite impressed by this and I hope that the Conservative Party will take the right step in relation to IRI.

In conclusion, I would like to congratulate you on your well deserved win once again, as well as reiterate that the Iranian people need the help of the International Community in removing the Islamic regime. I humbly ask for your help in this matter and I sincerely hope that the Conservative Government will stand beside the Iranian people and help them achieve their goal of a free and democratic Iran. I would be happy to discuss these issues further at your convenience

Sincerely,

Setareh Kaviyan
Director of Human Rights Committee
Marze Por Gohar Party
Iranians for a Secular Republic
http://www.marzeporgohar.org