Mr. Speaker, 40 days ago, on September 16, 2022, a young 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Jina Amini, was brutally murdered by the morality police of the terrorist and illegitimate Islamic regime in Iran. Since then, the brave people of Iran have been protesting—protesting 43 years of a brutal dictatorship.

This is the same dictatorship that almost three years ago shot down Ukraine flight PS752, killing over 50 Canadians, and I would like to thank Premier Ford for taking swift action back in January 2020 by siding with the people of Iran and announcing scholarships to honour every single Canadian murdered during that plane crash.

Hundreds if not thousands of Iranians have been arrested, murdered, tortured and killed by the brutal and terrorist illegitimate Islamic regime in Iran. For Iranians mourning someone’s passing, the 40th day is incredibly significant. And it’s not just Mahsa Jina Amini’s family that is mourning; all of the people of Iran are mourning. Iranians around the world are mourning, and the world is mourning with them. There are nation-wide strikes happening, and while pro-Islamic regime lobby groups like the Iranian Canadian Congress have tried to apologize for the regime, the world has opened its eyes.

The regime has shut down the Internet to prevent the voices of the people of Iran from being heard. But they are asking the world for one simple thing: to be their voice, to share their stories and to make them heard.

I have several hundred constituents in my riding who, just like me, are of Iranian origin. Today, I want to let the people of Iran know that they are not alone in their fight for freedom and democracy. Here in Canada, we are blessed to live in a free and democratic society. The people of Iran deserve the same.