The Canadians on this stage are here because we care. My name is Paul Forseth. For twelve and a half years I was elected to the parliament of Canada. I bring special greetings from the Canadian government.
The Honorable Stockwell Day Canadian minister of public safety says "All the best to you in all your efforts for freedom, peace, and democracy."
I speak to the citizens of Iran. You are not forgotten. The whole world knows of your suffering and captivity. And I remind that the peaceful democratic approach of madam Rajavi is the wise pathway for Iran’s bright future. The current Iranian regime only knows hate. By sending thousands of revolutionary guards and intelligence agents to Iraq, as well as spending millions of dollars to recruit mercenaries and enlist support among destitute and impoverished Iraqis, Tehran seems hell-bent on killing the beginning of democracy in Iraq.
The religious leaders who control everything in Iran are accountable for the tragedy and despair in Iran. The religious leaders preach harsh rules for others that they do not keep themselves because they do not know God. They are false leaders. We need peaceful change brought by the Iranian people themselves without the intervention of foreign military force. The main problem is rebellious dark hearts which are opposed to the love of God.
In contrast, Maryam Rajavi is a viable alternative focal point as a practical way to help Iran grow out of dictatorship and into democracy with multi-party honest elections, secular government administration, where all religions are respected, and where human rights and democratic accountability to the people will be the way of the country. When the hearts of the people change, the country will change and prosper.
The world needs a democratic reform in Iran that will disarm the threat to the world of a hostile nuclear armed regime that has foreign ambitions of religious annihilation. We know what it means when they call the rest of the world infidels. We know what is in their dark heart when they give such threats. Iranian Prosecutor General Sedim Mortezavi was in Geneva last week as part of Iran’s delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Council. In 2003 Mortezavi ordered the detention and interrogation of Zahra Kazemi, a photojournalist with a dual Canadian citizenship. And she was tortured and later died of her injuries. Canada wants Motezavi arrested and tried for his involvement.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter McKay calls from the Canadian government for the arrest of this Iranian official implicated in the murder of photojournalist Zahra Kazemi. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter McKay remains unapologetic for those words saying "The presence of Mortazevi in Iran’s foreign delegation to Geneva demonstrates the government of Iran’s complete contempt for internationally recognized principles of human rights. And McKay even says if the Iranian justice minister is offended by any of those remarks, he’s free to come to Canada and file a lawsuit. The Foreign Affairs Ministers says "Take me to court! Come to Canada and face in the justice system if that’s what he believes." McKay says "I don’t put a lot of faith in what the Iranian Justice Minister has to say frankly."
So today we also note among those jailed in Iran is another Canadian who holds dual citizenship, Rahim Jahanbiglu. For more than two months the former Harvard and University of Toronto professor has been held in Tehran’s Evin prison. His arrest is not the behavior of a legitimate government.
I have a message from the prime minister of Canada to you. The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says to all Islamist plotters "Sadly the most serious challenge of all today is the threat of terrorism that casts a shadow over all the cities throughout the world. But the recent arrests of 17 people in southern Ontario on charges of terrorism have reminded us that the potential of hate-fuelled violence, even in Canada, is very real. And it has led some to comment to the effect that Canada’s open and culturally diverse society makes us a more vulnerable target for terrorist activity. But I believe exactly the opposite is true. That Canada’s diversity properly nurtured is our great strength. Visit almost any city in Canada and you’ll find a Chinatown, a little Italy, French quarter, an East Indian commercial and residential enclave. And these and many more reflect the amazing ethnic diversity of Canada. But they flourish because they are not isolated from the larger community. On the contrary, the shops in Chinatown and the little restaurants in Italy attract people from all over.
And we have avoided the ghettoization, the bain of urban existence in so many other places, the impoverished crime-ridden, ethnically polarized, no-go zones of some cities. While it’s true that some in some community may find the apostles of terror, but people who use the symbols of culture or faith to justify crimes of violence, they hate open and diverse democratic societies like ours because they want the exact opposite. They want a society that is closed, homogeneous, and dogmatic. But they and their vision will be rejected because it is against how god made human kind. Fanatical religious control will be rejected by men and women of generosity and goodwill in all communities. And rejected most strongly by those men and women in the very community they claim to represent. Those are the things that our Prime Minister was saying today.
The Canadian government will do all we can to make our society secure and ensure that terrorism finds no comfort in Canada. That was the prime minister’s message to you today. Therefore in closing my message to you is one of hope. The freedom-loving people in Iran can stop cooperating with their captors. Citizens must take back the power that was stolen from them.
Freedom comes from a changed heart. Freedom comes when citizens refuse to be manipulated by religious guilt. People must not be tricked into sinning against their own family and country. For the problem in Iran is mostly a spiritual problem and can only improve when the sinful will repent and become good, when they choose what is right instead of what is wrong, when each citizen does their duty in their own life and loves and cares for their neighbor just as for themselves. Love your neighbor as yourself, just as god loves all humankind. Thank you everyone. Canada loves you. Vive le Canada.