Canada, Iran, and Uncle Sam: Unraveling Flight 752's Geopolitical Justice Tangle
Four years after 176 people were tragically killed in the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, Canada announced this month its intention to take further action to “hold the Iranian regime accountable.” This move places Iran back in the crosshairs of Canadian bureaucrats, alongside China and Russia, in the international spotlight.
Fifty-five Canadian citizens and 30 Canadian permanent residents were among the 176 people killed when Iranian officials shot down the jetliner shortly after takeoff from Tehran in January 2020. Everyone on board perished.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly and Minister of Transport Pablo Rodriguez met this month with families of the Flight 752 victims to “reaffirm Canada’s unwavering support for those who lost loved ones in this senseless tragedy,” as officials phrased it.
However, it has been questioned whether the pursuit of justice for the victims of Flight 752 truly remains a primary focus for Canada, or if the tragedy is being used as a tool to advance broader geopolitical interests in alignment with the strategic objectives of the global West.
Working with partners in the International Coordination and Response Group – Sweden, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom – Canada has begun dispute settlement proceedings before the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) against the Islamic Republic of Iran. This action is for Iran's failure to refrain from the use of weapons against a civil aircraft in flight, which Canada contends is a violation of its international legal obligations under the Convention on International Civil Aviation, commonly referred to as the Chicago Convention.
The Coordination Group also filed an application against Iran with the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, last year.
Previously, the federal government, using the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, barred senior members of the Iranian regime from entering Canada. Consequently, the Canada Border Services Agency has denied entry to dozens of high-ranking Iranian officials and is investigating many others in Canada for potential connections to Tehran. And now the Canadian government is contemplating “responsibly” designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group, as stated by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau's remarks were made at a ceremony in Richmond Hill, Ontario, earlier this month, marking the four-year anniversary of the tragedy.
“The Iranian regime must be held accountable,” Trudeau declared, emphasizing that “we will continue our work, including continuing to explore ways to responsibly list the IRGC as a terrorist organization and explore any and all other options.”
The United States designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization in 2019 under then-president Donald Trump. The current Liberal government in Canada has resisted similar calls from the opposition Conservatives, arguing that such a designation could affect lower-level Iranians who may have been conscripted into the paramilitary force.
A man grieves at the gravesite in Richmond Hill of his nine-year-old daughter and wife, both killed when Flight 752 was shot down. (Image courtesy Robert Krbavac/CBC)
Taking to social media, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre lambasted Trudeau in relation to the matter.
“You’ve allowed the IRGC to operate legally in Canada for four years after they murdered 55 of our citizens and 30 of our permanent residents, while 700 agents still terrorize our people,” he said.
“And you have the audacity to give a self-serving political speech at the memorial to the group’s victims.”
Poilievre has repeatedly urged the government to expedite the process, reiterating Canada’s duty to “be a leader in condemning the actions of these terrorists and stand in solidarity with the victims and their families.”
Poilievre's language used toward Iran is not surprising. Though there are many differences between his circle and Trudeau’s, a neoconservative-leaning attitude is not among them.
For instance, in Poilievre’s circle is John Baird, his former leadership campaign co-chair and the foreign affairs minister under former prime minister Stephen Harper. In 2012, Baird's ministry labelled Iran “the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world,” leading to the sudden closure of Canada’s embassy in Tehran and the expulsion of Iranian diplomats from Canada.
In that same year, Canada categorized Iran as a “supporter of terrorism” under the State Immunity Act. This designation, in conjunction with the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, allowed victims at the time to sue Iran for losses or damages stemming from acts of terrorism linked to Iran, regardless of where they occurred globally.
Canada also identified the Quds Force, a branch of the Revolutionary Guard, as a terrorist group in 2012.
Tragedy as a Result of Human Error, says Iran
As for Iran’s side of the story, its Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) released its final report in March 2021 on the Flight 752 incident, which was promptly condemned by Ukraine and Canada. The report maintained Iran's earlier stance that the flight was downed by two missiles due to "human error" in operating a surface-to-air defence system.
At that time, Iran's air defences were on high alert because the country had launched missiles at two Iraqi military bases hosting US forces. This action was in retaliation for the US killing of IRGC General Qasem Soleimani, who was targeted in a drone strike in Baghdad five days earlier. The strike also killed a senior commander of the Iraqi counter-terrorism force, and the Iraqi government claimed the operation was conducted without their knowledge or consent.
Demonstrators gathered outside the US Consulate in Toronto to protest America's ordering of the targeted killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. January, 2020. (Image courtesy Angelina King/CBC)
A University of Maryland poll in 2018 indicated that Soleimani held a "very favourable" rating among Iranians at the time. Following the general’s death, Iranians living in Canada expressed mixed responses. Some viewed him as a hero, while others celebrated his demise.
On the night of Soleimani's assassination, the US military also targeted Abdul Reza Shahlai, a commander in Iran’s Quds Force. The attempt was unsuccessful, resulting in the death of Quds Force operative Mohammad Mirza instead.
Five days after Soleimani's death, Iran executed precision ballistic strikes on two Coalition bases in Iraq, including the Ain al-Assad base from which the drone strike was launched.
Seventy-two hours following these events, Iranian authorities acknowledged that Flight 752 had been mistakenly shot down.
The CAO's final report detailed how a misalignment error of 105 degrees occurred in one of Tehran's air defence units after a tactical relocation on January 8, 2020. This error, according to the report, led the operator to misidentify the aircraft.
The air defence unit in question "failed to adjust the system direction out of human error, causing the operator to observe the target flying west from Tehran Imam Khomeini Airport as a target approaching Tehran from the southwest at a relatively low altitude.”
The target was reportedly announced to the command centre, but the message was never relayed. Without receiving a response from command, the operator identified the target as being hostile.
The CAO concluded that neither the aircraft's technical or operational condition nor its flight path and altitude were factors in its misidentification.
A critical question post-incident was why Flight 752 was allowed to take off amid such heightened military tensions, especially at night. The CAO report explained that while all commercial flights, including transit and inbound/outbound flights to Iran's airports, were halted due to the "very high sensitivity" of commercial flights during a conflict, the risk for flights from Tehran airport was deemed "very low."
The report noted, “Ultimately, it can be concluded that the evaluated risk was not proportionate to existing realities, and an unanticipated error occurred.”
Addressing the Iranian parliament days later, the IRGC’s chief commander expressed regret, reportedly saying he wished he had been inside the downed plane.
Ukraine dismissed the CAO’s report as a “cynical attempt” to hide the truth.
In a separate report, UN special rapporteur Agnès Callamard said the explanations provided by the Iranian authorities “present many inconsistencies,” however she found no concrete evidence that the targeting of Flight 752 was intentional.
Canadian officials criticized Iran’s report for failing to address critical aspects of the incident, and Canada released its own report, “The Downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752: Factual Analysis,” concluding that Iran’s account was misleading and superficially addressed key factors, but the forensic team “found no evidence” that the downing of Flight 752 was premeditated.
The lack of evidence over whether the downing of Flight 752 was intentional or a result of incompetence remains a focal point in Canadian discourse. Leaders from several parties frequently reference this tragedy when advocating for the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization. However, terrorism implies deliberate intent, which has not been conclusively proven in the case of Flight 752. This distinction does not absolve Iran of accountability, nor does it mean the IRGC shouldn’t be declared a terrorist organization, but it remains a critical factor in the discussion. It also highlights that Canadian bureaucrats who cite the tragedy as a reason to designate the IRGC as terrorist are one of two things: incompetent or dishonest, an irony that mirrors the ambiguity of the tragedy itself.
Canada’s Flight 752 Investigation
The Canadian report, funded by taxpayers, was led by Jeff Yaworski, former Deputy Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and now a senior intelligence advisor to the prime minister. Yaworski’s career, much like that of his Iranian counterparts, is not without controversy.
As reported by the Globe and Mail, Yaworski travelled to Ankara, Turkey, in March 2015. His mission was to persuade Turkish authorities to remain silent about CSIS’s recruitment of a Syrian human smuggler who had trafficked three British teenage girls to Islamic State militants.
The Globe cited three anonymous sources stating that Yaworski was engaged in a “discreet but high-level campaign to prevent the spy agency from being publicly blamed for using the smuggler as an operative.”
Yaworski and CSIS declined to comment on these allegations.
Jeff Yaworski (left). December, 2018. (Image courtesy x.com/csiscanada)
With respect to CSIS’s former most senior intelligence officer attempting to conceal the agency’s questionable activities, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, as his father Ron Yaworski was Superintendent of the RCMP’s Security Service, the branch that oversaw domestic intelligence in Canada before being replaced by CSIS in 1984 in the wake of major scandals.
Documents reveal Ron Yaworski was responsible for destroying the service’s sensitive files on Operation Checkmate in 1974-75. This operation, as revealed by a 1981 Royal Commission, involved the RCMP employing disruptive and often illegal tactics against organizations considered adversarial to the state.
A 1985 Ottawa Citizen clipping, featuring a photo, confirmed Ronald J. Yaworski had a son named Jeffrey. The photo, despite its graininess, clearly shows a young Jeff Yaworski, confirming that CSIS's former top intelligence officer and fixer is indeed the son of the former Security Service fixer, Ron Yaworski.
The Ottawa Citizen, 1985.
The Ottawa Journal, 1961.
In detailing Jeff Yaworski's report on Flight 752, Trudeau called for Iran to be held accountable for what he described as "the cover-up that followed the downing of Flight 752." Canada's accusation implies a deliberate effort by Iran to obscure details of the incident. The selection of Jeff Yaworski, known for his and his family's involvement in covering up controversial government activities, as the leader of the investigation, adds a complex layer to the narrative.
The West's Modus Operandi
The Canadian government has imposed numerous sanctions on various Iranian government-related organizations and individuals, including the Iranian media outlet Press TV.
In October 2022, Canada added numerous Iranian individuals and entities to its sanctions list for purported participation in or facilitation of “gross human rights violations.” These measures prohibit any dealings with the listed individuals and entities, effectively freezing any assets they may hold in Canada.
During this time Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced that $76 million of taxpayers’ money would go toward, as Global Affairs worded it, “strengthening Canada’s capacity to implement sanctions and ensure we can move more quickly to freeze and seize sanctioned individuals’ assets.” Before the aforementioned measure, Canada imposed sanctions on 66 Iranian individuals and 170 Iranian entities.
“The actions of the Iranian regime speak for themselves – the world has watched for years as it has pursued its agenda of violence,” Joly said in October 2022, committing Canada to “continue to defend human rights” in Iran.
The decision to sanction Press TV aligns with the approach of Western governments, which often ban or sanction media outlets associated with countries they consider adversarial, such as China, Venezuela, and Russia.
For instance, in February 2022, the Canadian government banned all Canadian financial institutions from engaging in transactions with the Russian Central Bank, in addition to imposing an asset freeze and dealings prohibition on Russian sovereign wealth funds.
Canada, along with the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, issued a joint statement committing to collective restrictive measures against Russia. This included a pledge to “step up our coordination against disinformation and other forms of hybrid warfare.”
Subsequently, Canadian telecom giants Rogers, Bell, Shaw, and Telus removed the Russia Today television network from their platforms. Political leaders across the spectrum, some self-professed free speech advocates, echoed calls to deplatform the Russian state-sponsored program.
“The Canadian government needs to get Russia Today off Canadian airwaves, and they need to do it now. Putin propaganda has no place in Canada,” then-interim Conservative party leader Candice Bergen posted on social media.
Bergen had previously criticized Trudeau for attempting to control what Canadians can and cannot see online.
Regarding Iran’s Press TV, a year before Canada imposed sanctions, the US Justice Department seized its website for alleged “disinformation campaigns and malign influence operations.” This action by the US, followed by Canada's similar stance, reflects a congruent approach in addressing concerns over state-controlled foreign media, indicative of Canada's alignment with certain aspects of US policy.
Press TV’s website, 2021
Another instance of this 'follow the leader' pattern is evident in Canada’s recent adoption of the taxpayer funded $2.3 billion Indo-Pacific Strategy, which was officially announced one month after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelled to Canada to meet with Joly. You can read more of Coastal Front’s reporting on the Indo-Pacific strategy here.
It is noteworthy that on July 3, 1988, Iran Air Flight 655, en route from Tehran to Dubai, was shot down by the American missile cruiser USS Vincennes, killing all 290 on board, including 66 children.
Ottawa's criticism of Iran's handling of Flight 752, marked by policy shifts and sanctions, stands in stark contrast to its soft approach toward incidents involving major powers like the United States. This noticeable disparity resurrects long-standing questions about the consistency of Canada's moral and ethical standards in international affairs. It prompts a critical examination of whether the pursuit of justice for the victims of Flight 752 is genuinely at the forefront of Canada's agenda, or if the tragedy is being leveraged as a means to further broader geopolitical interests aligned with Western hegemony.
