Ceremony in Saskatoon remembers lives lost in Iranian protests

An Iranian remembrance ceremony was held in Saskatoon on Sunday to recognize the lives and freedom lost in Iran.

This follows the deaths of 40,000 people during protests against the regime in January.

The University of Saskatchewan’s Iranian Students’ Association organized the ceremony. They say there needs to be more recognition by Canadians when it comes to the brutality of the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“We feel like there is not enough coverage in the mainstream media, unfortunately,” said Sepideh Gorji, a member of the association. “For people to recognize that when we’re talking about the Iranian government, it is IRGC. It’s the same terrorist organization that Canada has recognized; we just want to spread awareness. After six months of talking about them, I think this was good to kind of come together and remember.”

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The Iranian community in Saskatoon have been very outspoken on the street in past years, but since January, Gorji says there have been protests almost every week.

And while this is a difficult time for the community, they say gathering is important.

“It reminds us that we have one goal, and that’s freedom and democracy in Iran, and we should never forget that. It’s been really hard; we have a lot of opposition in the diaspora from the IRGC who try to stop us…. You get really disappointed and you get tired and a lot of tears we have shed. But then, when gatherings like this happen, it reminds us that we all stand together.”

She says you can support your Iranian friends and family by recognizing the threat the IRGC poses for democracy and the people.

“When we see that the Canadian community recognizes that, it means a lot to us because we have been trying to say it loud and clear that this terrorist organization exists in the West and they are dangerous and we want the community to recognize that. And we want them to distinguish the lion and sun revolution that we are after.”

Watch the video above for more on the remembrance ceremony.