Iranian Interests Were Using St. Kitts Passports to Enter Canada Before 2014 Visa Imposition
OTTAWA – Official Opposition Foreign Affairs Critic Tony Clement, and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Critic Michelle Rempel, today wrote to Liberal Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion asking if Prime Minister Trudeau made any commitments to lift visas on St. Kitts and Nevis residents during his recent visit.
“The local St. Kitts newspaper notes that the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis raised the matter directly with Prime Minister Trudeau,” said Clement and Rempel. “It is important to know whether our Prime Minister made any commitments in this regard.”
“The policy of imposing visas on St. Kitts and Nevis residents in November 2014 was not done lightly by our government,” said Clement and Rempel. “Canadian Border Services, immigration officials and foreign affairs officials, as well as the media, noted attempts by Iranian nationals using St. Kitts passports to enter Canada. In some cases, it was noted that Syrian nationals had attempted the same. And in other cases involving the United States Treasury Department, Iranian nationals under contract to the regime in Tehran were using St. Kitts passports to launder millions of dollars for the mullahs in Tehran.”
Clement and Rempel concluded, “It is vitally important for the strength of our sanctions policy against the Iranian regime, one of the world’s greatest offenders of human rights, that policies which preserve Canada’s strength and security are not weakened. That is why Canadians need to know just what key policy commitments Prime Minister Trudeau may have made to the Prime Minister of St. Kitts.”
