IRANIAN Canadians on the North Shore are expressing mixed views as the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade has announced it will ban all imports and exports between Canada and Iran.
Foreign Minister John Baird made the announcement Thursday, citing Iran's rogue pursuit of a nuclear program in defiance of the United Nations.
"The absence of progress with both the P5+1 and the (International Atomic Energy Agency) leads Canada to ban, effective immediately, all imports to and exports from Iran," he said in a press release. "Canada, like many of our closest allies, is making every possible effort to halt Iran's reckless pursuit of their nuclear-weapons capabilities. . . . We will continue to look for ways to reduce the negative impacts on the people of Iran, including humanitarian exemptions."
Iran has faced several bouts of sanctions from Canada over the years, but this latest round will finish off what remained of trade between the two countries, said Davood Ghavami, president of the Iranian-Canadian Congress of Canada.
While there was more than $680 million exports by Canadian businesses to Iran in 2008, that number was down to $98 million last year, Ghavami said.
"It means the economic relations have already declined between the two countries. (I don't know) how much this announcement is going to have an impact," he said.
Much of the Iranian diaspora in Canada are opponents of the regime, so there is support among local Iranian-Canadians, Ghavami said.
"I think as long as the Canadian government is putting pressure on the Iranian regime, it's a good idea because the outcome is promoting human rights in Iran and staying on the people's side - the opposition side, which is good," he said. "But if it goes beyond that and puts pressure on the people of Iran, it's not a good idea."
However, small business owners who rely on selling imported Iranian products will certainly feel the pinch.
Sam Garman, owner of Persian grocery store Mitra in West Vancouver, said he is going to have to check with his suppliers who keep his store's shelves stocked with about 50 different products made in Iran.
Despite the loss it represents for his and other businesses as well as to Iranian immigrants, Garman maintains an optimistic outlook for his business.
"Life goes on," he said. "You don't have to have that brand of pickle."
More important to Garman is how the latest sanctions are going to affect that average Iranian citizen.
"Sanctions always hurt the people. I come from that culture and nothing hurts the government," he said. "They don't care."
Business owners who want to continue doing business with Iranian counterparts can apply to DFAIT for an exemption, but it will require ministerial approval.
When confronted with how stopping the sale of Iranian goods is meant to dissuade Iran's Islamic theocracy government from acquiring an atom bomb, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country MP John Weston, acknowledged the local inconvenience and wider implications.
"I am very empathetic and concerned about that perspective," said Weston, who is also the government's liaison to the Iranian-Canadian community. "However we are reaching a crescendo of concern over continued violations of (Iran's) nuclear obligations. Sanctions are a bad consequence but the other consequences are worse and so we're having to choose among dislikable options in trying peacefully to bring about a resolution."
Iran's regime has been cracking down on human rights groups in the run-up to the country's presidential election, which is scheduled for June 24, Weston said.
