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WHEREAS since 1983, the Islamic Republic of Iran has forced all women and girls, regardless of nationality or faith, to wear a headscarf and conceal their hair in public;
WHEREAS the Islamic Republic of Iran deploys its morality police to enforce compulsory dress codes and routinely dehumanizes, harasses, and assaults women accused of not properly wearing a headscarf;
WHEREAS women accused of violating the national dress codes are arrested, forcibly taken to “re-education centres.”
WHEREAS on September 16, 2022, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman named Jina Mahsa Amini was arrested by the morality police and was later pronounced dead;
WHEREAS hours after Amini’s death, thousands of courageous Iranian women gathered in protest throughout Iran chanting the slogan “Women! Life! Freedom!” and calling for an end to the repression of Iranian women, the abolition of compulsory dress codes, and justice for Amini and her family;
WHEREAS since December 28, 2025, the people of Iran have risen in a nationwide movement to demand fundamental change, secular democracy, and the end of clerical rule;
WHEREAS the Iranian regime responded with a coordinated and lethal crackdown on January 8 and 9, 2026, resulting in an estimated death toll exceeding 30,000 protesters, many of whom were students, women, and children;
WHEREAS the implementation of a near-total internet and telecommunications blackout by the regime in Iran has left citizens of Iranian origin living in Côte Saint-Luc in a state of profound distress, unable to verify the safety or whereabouts of their families;
WHEREAS the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated terrorist organization in Canada, continues to engage in transnational repression, including the surveillance and intimidation of Canadian citizens;
WHEREAS the campaign of transnational repression by the regime in Iran has directly targeted prominent Montreal-based human rights advocates, as evidenced by the foiled 2024 assassination plot against former federal Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler, who remains under 24-hour security protection in the City of Côte Saint-Luc due to his vocal opposition to the regime and its terrorist entities;
WHEREAS the City of Côte Saint-Luc is home to a vibrant Persian community and stands as a beacon of human rights and security for all its residents;
It was moved by MAYOR TORDJMAN
And seconded by ALL COUNCILLORS
THAT the City Council of Côte Saint-Luc stands in solidarity with the Iranian people in their pursuit of freedom, dignity, and a society governed by the rule of law rather than Sharia law;
THAT the City of Côte Saint-Luc stands with those that believe that the atrocities perpetrated by the regime in Iran exceed the criteria established by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for initiating a structural investigation into Crimes Against Humanity;
THAT the City of Côte Saint-Luc calls upon the Prime Minister and the Government of Canada to aggressively enforce the terrorist listing of the IRGC by seizing assets and expelling agents who pose a threat to our community’s safety;
THAT the City urges the federal government to immediately implement a robust Foreign Agent Registry to prevent hostile foreign regimes from mobilizing in our cities to intimidate the local population;
THAT the City will fly for one week in front of City Hall the Lion and Sun flag of Iran, which pre-dates the Islamic Republic;
THAT this resolution be transmitted to the Prime Minister of Canada, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the local Members of Parliament and the National Assembly of Quebec to ensure the voices of Côte Saint-Luc residents are heard.