02/06/2026
The Iranian Ontario Dental Association writes on behalf of its members and the Iranian community we serve to express our profound concern and alarm regarding the ongoing and rapidly escalating human rights crisis in Iran.
Despite the regime’s near-total isolation of the country through widespread internet shutdowns and the severing of communication channels, horrifying reports continue to emerge of mass killings of peaceful protesters. These acts of violence are becoming increasingly frequent and severe, seemingly emboldened by the lack of a decisive response from the international community.
Young people are being killed in the streets with military-grade weapons. The number of those killed is estimated to exceed 12,000, not including the countless wounded, detained, or disappeared. This disturbing reality has been met with an equally disturbing silence across many major international media outlets.
These victims are not statistics. They are individuals—sons, daughters, students, and professionals—with dreams, aspirations, and loved ones. They are no different from our own children, whom we see each morning. Imagine waking up one day not to see your loved one, but instead having to search for their body in a warehouse, then being forced to pay to retrieve it. Now imagine this suffering multiplied thousands of times. This is only a glimpse of the unimaginable pain the people of Iran are enduring today.
As barbaric and brutal as these actions are, they are not random. At the decision-making level, this violence represents a calculated risk. The Iranian regime relies on the hesitation and indecisiveness of the international community and has carefully adapted its system of oppression to exploit this silence.
Canada, regrettably, has become a known safe haven for the regime’s financial interests and family members. While relatives of Iranian officials benefit from safety, opportunity, and human rights in Canada, the same regime violently suppresses those in Iran who are asking for nothing more than these fundamental rights.
This reality gives Canada both a responsibility and a powerful opportunity. Canada has leverage—and the moral standing—to act decisively to help stop the killing of innocent people in Iran. Meaningful action can save lives.
We urge the Government of Canada and Canadian institutions to:
Publicly and unequivocally condemn the violence against Iranian civilians
Use diplomatic, legal, and financial tools to hold perpetrators accountable
Prevent Canada from serving as a safe haven for those complicit in these crimes
Silence in the face of such brutality is not neutrality—it is complicity. The people of Iran are watching, and history will remember who chose to act.
Respectfully,
Iranian Ontario Dental Association
On behalf of its members and the Iranian community we serve
