United for a Safe, Glorious and Free Canada – Remarks by Laurent Attali

The following remarks were delivered in Ottawa, at the Roundtable honouring Cyrus the Great, by Laurent Attali, October 29, 2026.

Honored guests, Members of Parliament, families of the victims of October 7, former political prisoners, students, friends — good evening. My name is Laurent Attali, and I am the founder of OneGlobalVoice, a global collective advocating for the safety, dignity and civic voice of communities under pressure around the world.

More than two and a half thousand years ago, Cyrus the Great entered Babylon and did something the rulers of his age rarely did. He let conquered people return to their homes, rebuild their temples, and worship as they chose. Among them were the Jewish exiles, who went home to Jerusalem. The clay cylinder that records his decrees is often called the first charter of human rights.

I mention Cyrus tonight not out of nostalgia, but because his idea is the same idea Canada was built on: that people of every faith and every origin can live side by side — safe, free, and equal under the law. That idea is under strain. Jewish schools have been shot at. Synagogues have been targeted. Iranian Canadians who fled the Islamic Republic find themselves watched and threatened here — sometimes by the very people they escaped. Students tell us they hide who they are on campus. This is not the Canada any of us chose.

So tonight, let me be specific. Hope is not a policy. Here is what we ask of our governments.

First: enforce what is already on the books. Canada declared the Iranian regime a state sponsor of terror in 2022 and listed the IRGC as a terrorist entity in June 2024.

Those were the right decisions. But a listing means little if it is not enforced. The CBSA has opened more than 180 investigations into suspected senior regime officials living in Canada — yet only a handful have been removed. Every case deserves due process. Every case also deserves to be finished. Fund the CBSA, staff the tribunals, and complete the work.

Second: treat support for terror as the crime it is. Financing, recruiting for, or assisting Hamas or any listed group is already illegal in Canada. Let it be investigated and prosecuted like one.

Third: let justice move in Vancouver. Samidoun was listed as a terrorist entity in October 2024 and dissolved as a registered nonprofit this year. Yet two and a half years after Vancouver police recommended hate charges against its leader for praising the October 7 massacre, there is still no decision. Justice delayed sends a message — and it is the wrong one. We ask the BC Prosecution Service to decide.

Fourth: list Kata'ib Hezbollah. The United States designated this Iran-backed militia in 2009. American prosecutors now allege that a senior member directed attacks here in Canada, including against a synagogue in Toronto. Those allegations must be tested in court — but listing the group would let Canada freeze its money and keep its members out. There is no reason to wait.

Fifth: assess Palestine Action Canada on the evidence. This summer the network claimed responsibility for an attack on a manufacturing plant in Ontario. The United Kingdom and the United States have both designated Palestine Action. We ask Public Safety Canada to review whether the Canadian network meets the legal test for listing — and to act if it does.

Sixth: follow every lead and tell Canadians what you find. Direct CSIS and the RCMP to fully investigate any foreign-state or terrorist links behind antisemitic attacks. Let investigators pursue links between extremist networks and organized crime, including drug trafficking, wherever the evidence points — without casting suspicion on any whole community. The great majority of Sikh, Muslim, Jewish and Iranian Canadians want exactly what we want: safety, and the rule of law.

Let me be clear about what this is not. It is not about silencing protest. Canadians are free to criticize any government — Israel's, Iran's, or our own. The line is violence, the incitement of hatred, and support for terror. Hold that line clearly and fairly, and free speech is protected, not threatened.

Cyrus did not ask the people of Babylon which god they prayed to before granting them peace. Canada should not either. But peace requires a state willing to protect it — against those who would bring the hatreds of distant wars onto our streets and our campuses.

We are not asking for anything radical tonight. We are asking our governments to enforce our laws, finish the cases they have opened, and close the gaps that remain.

For a Canada that is safe, glorious and free — thank you.