“I know that these are terrible times in Iran that people are risking their lives every single day in hundreds of communities for a better tomorrow,” Tony Clement, former Canadian MP, and Cabinet Minister stressed in his remarks addressing a conference on Saturday in Canada. The event was attended by renowned American and Canadian lawmakers and politicians who expressed their support for the Iranian people’s uprising and their Resistance. Below is the full text of Honorable Tony Clement’s speech, revised and edited for clarity.
I would like to extend my greetings to all of the participants today. My name is Tony Clement. I’m a former member of Parliament and Canada’s Parliament, and former Cabinet Minister, and I would have dearly loved to have been with you today in person.
I also want to extend my greetings to Madame Rajavi. I respect all of the work that she and her team are doing for the benefit of the people of Iran. What I wanted to do with my time is, give you some thoughts and some observations based on my most recent trip to Ashraf in Albania, which occurred about a month ago. And it was a real eye-opening experience for me.
I want to thank all of my hosts, who really extended every courtesy to me, and it was just a personal trip for me alone, so they put a lot of time and effort into the trip and allowed me to make my observations to have discussions with the multitude of people.
.@TonyclementCPC: The world, particularly the western world, can help Iran, and when you look at the things that are available for us in terms of sanctions, in terms of assisting that a pluralistic society is possible in Iran.#IranRevolutionhttps://t.co/03gSWlChiB
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) February 4, 2023
I learned a lot about that community which is truly extraordinary; you know, when they started to build that community, they basically started with nothing, just a farmer’s fields, and within a year, they had a whole community with a bakery and with a supermarket, and with all sorts of buildings, with a gymnasium, a mini soccer pitch all of these things to make the lives of the people there who are there as exiles more comfortable and to allow them to focus almost single-mindedly on what they want for Iran, which is an opportunity to have a pluralistic democratic society.
So, that’s what I saw there. They’re women and men, old and young, who are there working, as I said, single-mindedly, for this one goal.
One of the buildings that I reviewed, of course, was the museum where they document the terrible atrocities of the current regime in Iran, the torture chambers, the deprivation, the attempts to divide society, all of these things occurring not just the museum really is not just a documentation of the past. It is exactly what is happening in Iran presently as well.
That is certainly one of the things that I came away with as well. People there are determined. They use technology; they use their ability to understand the communities in Iran. And they have absolutely an understanding of what is going on in Iran today, and I had an opportunity to hear from people in Tehran and elsewhere in almost real-time.
About the struggles going on in Iran right now and how they are working together for a better society, I think it shows that the world, particularly the Western world, can help Iran. And when you look at the things that are available for us in terms of sanctions in terms of assisting that a pluralistic society is possible in Iran.
And certainly, I encourage all of us to continue on that road. So, I came away very optimistic. I know that these are terrible times in Iran that people are risking their lives every single day in hundreds of communities for a better tomorrow, and certainly, I join with the NCRI. To see that through to a better life for Iranians than is currently the case. I wish you well in your deliberations today, and certainly, I’m there in spirit. Thank you.
