Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. We're talking about human rights in Iran, and I don't think there's much to say: we have a lot of violations of human rights in Iran. I'm executive director of the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees, a registered charity based in Tor

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I would like to add that regarding execution, I know that the Homan group, based in Stockholm, Sweden, came out with a report that between 1979, which was the time of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and 2000, there were 4,000 people executed for homosexuality. Our stand is that

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, as I said, there are not a lot of legal representatives in Iran who would like to take these cases. We had some lawyers who took these cases and tried to challenge the government. People deny their sexual orientation, saying they are not gay, because one of the methods of pr

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you so much for asking this question, because a lot of people believe Iran is a paradise for transgenders because according to Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa, a transgender can go through sexual reassignment surgery. It is not about the transgenders' rights. It is actually a

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  As my friend said, no, but I would like to add that most of these things in Iran are a kind of political show. I usually tell my friends not to believe what they see or hear from the Iranian government because the Iranian supreme leader has absolute power. Even if the president s

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  As a result of your question, all of my hair became grey, because it is very difficult. The Internet is being censored and monitored by the government, as are telephones—all communications. It is very tough to collect the information from people, but there are a lot of brave Iran

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you so much for this question. It's very important. I have mentioned this several times. The last time I mentioned it was with the chairman. We had a meeting in Toronto with the Prime Minister's special adviser on LGBTQ. In Turkey, we process mostly LGBT refugees, not only

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you so much.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you so much. I wanted to be there in person, but, unfortunately, due to an Air Canada flight cancellation, I wasn't able to participate. Thank you so much for facilitating a way for me to join you over the telephone. My name is Arsham Parsi and I'm the executive director

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Which part of the story do you want to hear more about? The personal, the legal aspect, the emotional state...? Which one is more important for you, Mr. Ehsassi?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  As I mentioned, the majority of the LGBTQ refugees don't have their families' support, because they're not out to their families. That is one of the challenges that they mentioned to me numerous times. I was a refugee myself when I came to Canada on May 10, 2006, as a government-

Citizenship and Immigration committee  When the Honourable Jason Kenney was at the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, we worked closely with CIC, and there were a lot of groups of five sponsors and private sponsorships. Groups approached us. We made a recommendation and put them in contact with refugees, and t

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If I may, I'll have you know that in my experience most of the LGBTQ refugees who claim asylum, and mostly at the UNHCR, have no issue in declaring or identifying themselves as the LGBTQ community. The issue is when they apply on the basis of, for example, political affiliation o

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It is very important and the UNHCR made a very strong recommendation. Canada can co-operate with the UNHCR in order to get referrals of more.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  As my friends, Canada is one of the good examples, not only in my opinion, but also the UNHCR believes that. Still, there are a lot of challenges, and there is a need for a big improvement in Canada. A lot of Europeans are looking to Canada and how they resettle refugees, which i