When Shaho Shahbazpanahi went to check in on the home of his close friends while they visited Iran, no one could have predicted they would never return — and that he would bear the responsibility of figuring out what to do with the pieces of their lives left behind.
Razgar Rahimi, Farideh Gholami and their three-year-old son, Jiwan Rahimi, were about to return after a month in their home country and Shahbazpanahi wanted to make sure all was in order at their Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ont., home, about 40 kilometres north of Toronto.
He dutifully scanned each room from the basement to the top floor, and the nursery where the couple would soon welcome their baby boy. Gholami was seven months pregnant, set to deliver her baby in March.
“They painted everything very beautifully, they had a crib ready, even the blankets were ready,” he said.
But it was not to be.
‘We were going to plan everything together’
“At 11 p.m. Tuesday, we heard the news,” Shahbazpanahi said. “A flight from Tehran to Kyiv had crashed.”
By 3 a.m., his worst fears were confirmed when the flight manifest for Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 emerged, listing his friends among the 167 passengers who perished. Fifty-seven Canadians were killed in the incident, which Iran took responsibility for on Friday after days of denying accusations it shot down the airliner.
Rescue teams are seen at the crash site of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 outside Tehran on Jan. 8. Iran later admitted to mistakenly shooting down the plane. (Akbar Tavakoli/IRNA/AFP via Getty Images)
The plane was mistaken for a “hostile target” after it turned toward a “sensitive military centre” of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the country’s military said. Iran’s Prime Minister called the incident “a disastrous mistake.”
Shahbazpanahi said the couple’s relatives told him Jiwan’s stuffed animal and book were found at the crash site.
Until then, the hope had been for the families’ children to grow up together. Shahbazpanahi’s daughter’s birthday was around the corner.
“We were going to plan everything together,” said his wife, Nasim Kamgar.
Gholami was brilliant, studied industrial design and had dreams of one day starting her own business, Kamgar said through tears as she wore the necklace and earrings her friend designed for her.
A kind of spark
Gholami was also a lifeline of sorts for Kamgar — a big-sister figure who taught her everything she knew about parenting and encouraged her to have a child of her own to be a friend to Jiwan.
“But Jiwan never came back,” she said through tears. “My daughter keeps saying, ‘Jiwan.’ She wants her friend… she can’t talk but she knows that something’s happened.”
The family had a kind of spark that let them make friends easily, as evidenced by the many friends who considered them family and now mourn their loss. (Submitted by Nasim Kamgar)
Rahimi was exceedingly knowledgeable and had a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering, Shahbazpanahi said. The pair met in 2014 on Rahimi’s second day in Canada while Rahimi was studying at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and they became fast friends.
Both were Iranian Kurds, first-generation immigrants, sharing jokes in their native language that they couldn’t in English or Farsi, Shahbazpanahi remembered with a laugh.
“We had a lot of fun,” he said.
Three-year-old Jiwan was whip-smart, learning four languages and had a brain like his father, Shahbazpanahi said. He adored painting, reading and building things.
The family had a kind of spark that let them make friends easily, as evidenced by the many friends who considered them family and now mourn their loss.
Shaho Shahbazpanahi, left, and Nasim Kamgar were best friends with Rahimi and Gholami, and planned to raise their children together. (Michael Charles Cole/CBC)
It was also a function of surviving in a new country, said Shahbazpanahi.
“When you come as an international student… everything is new. You’re starting over,” he said.
‘This is unknown territory’
And so while Rahimi and Gholami counted many friends among their family, they have no official next of kin in Canada, meaning Shahabazpanahi now finds himself trying to sort out what happens with the pieces of the lives cut short by the tragedy.
“This is unknown territory,” said their town’s mayor Ian Lovatt.
“We have an immigrant family that moved here about six years ago for a new life, establishes themselves certainly in our community and in the academic community, and in the blink of eye they’re gone.”
When friends of Rahimi and Gholami approached Whitchurch-Stouffville Mayor Ian Lovatt for help, officials from the Ontario town leaped into action to track down their landlords to let him know what had happened to the family. (Angelina King/CBC)
When friends of the couple approached Lovatt for help, officials from the town leaped into action to track down their landlords to let him know what had happened to the family.
“The neighbours, the friends, and even the landlords don’t know what to do,” he said.
Shahbazpanahi says he’s standing by as the couple’s family in Iran processes their loved ones’ loss. They aren’t ready yet to broach the topic of logistics and what to do with their now-empty home and belongings. Eventually, he expects family members will make their way to Canada to handle the couple’s affairs.
Rahimi and Gholami’s keys sit on the table of their friends’ home along with photos of the couple and a plate of dates for the grieving. (Angelina King/CBC)
For now, the town plans intends to hold a candlelight vigil for the family, with plans to send a book of condolences to their relatives in Iran.
In the meantime, the couple’s car remains parked outside of Shahbazpanahi’s house.
He was supposed to drive it to the airport to bring them home.
OTTAWA – The New Democrats confirmed Thursday they won’t help Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives topple the government next week, and intend to join the Bloc Québécois in blocking the Tories’ non-confidence motion.
The planned votes from the Bloc and the New Democrats eliminate the possibility of a snap election, buying the Liberals more time to govern after a raucous start to the fall sitting of Parliament.
Poilievre issued a challenge to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh earlier this week when he announced he will put forward a motion that simply states that the House has no confidence in the government or the prime minister.
If it were to pass, it would likely mean Canadians would be heading to the polls, but Singh said Thursday he’s not going to let Poilievre tell him what to do.
Voting against the Conservative motion doesn’t mean the NDP support the Liberals, said Singh, who pulled out of his political pact with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a few weeks ago.
“I stand by my words, Trudeau has let you down,” Singh said in the foyer outside of the House of Commons Thursday.
“Trudeau has let you down and does not deserve another chance.”
Canadians will have to make that choice at the ballot box, Singh said, but he will make a decision about whether to help trigger that election on a vote-by-vote basis in the House.
The Conservatives mocked the NDP during Question Period for saying they had “ripped up” the deal to support the Liberals, despite plans to vote to keep them in power.
Poilievre accused Singh of pretending to pull out of the deal to sway voters in a federal byelection in Winnipeg, where the NDP was defending its long-held seat against the Conservatives.
“Once the votes were counted, he betrayed them again. He’s a fake, a phoney and fraud. How can anyone ever believe what the sellout NDP leader says in the future?” Poilievre said during Question Period Thursday afternoon.
At some point after those comments, Singh stepped out from behind his desk in the House and a two-minute shouting match ensued between the two leaders and their MPs before the Speaker intervened.
Outside the House, Poilievre said he plans to put forward another non-confidence motion at the next opportunity.
“We want a carbon-tax election as soon as possible, so that we can axe Trudeau’s tax before he quadruples it to 61 cents a litre,” he said.
Liberal House leader Karina Gould says there is much work the government still needs to do, and that Singh has realized the consequences of potentially bringing down the government. She refused to take questions about whether her government will negotiate with opposition parties to ensure their support in future confidence motions.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet hasn’t ruled out voting no-confidence in the government the next time a motion is tabled.
“I never support Liberals. Help me God, I go against the Conservatives on a vote that is only about Pierre Poilievre and his huge ambition for himself,” Blanchet said Thursday.
“I support the interests of Quebecers, if those interests are also good for Canadians.”
A Bloc bill to increase pension cheques for seniors aged 65 to 74 is now at “the very centre of the survival of this government,” he said.
The Bloc needs a recommendation from a government minister to OK the cost and get the bill through the House.
The Bloc also wants to see more protections for supply management in the food sector in Canada and Quebec.
If the Liberals can’t deliver on those two things, they will fall, Blanchet said.
“This is what we call power,” he said.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand wouldn’t say whether the government would be willing to swallow the financial implications of the Bloc’s demands.
“We are focused at Treasury Board on ensuring prudent fiscal management,” she said Thursday.
“And at this time, our immediate focus is implementing the measures in budget 2024 that were announced earlier this year.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – Treasury Board President Anita Anand has been sworn in as federal transport minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall, taking over a portfolio left vacant after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet and the Liberal caucus on Thursday.
Anand thanked Rodriguez for his contributions to the government and the country, saying she’s grateful for his guidance and friendship.
She sidestepped a question about the message it sends to have him leave the federal Liberal fold.
“That is a decision that he made independently, and I wish him well,” she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not present for the swearing-in ceremony, nor were any other members of the Liberal government.
The shakeup in cabinet comes just days after the Liberals lost a key seat in a Montreal byelection to the Bloc Québécois and amid renewed calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down and make way for a new leader.
Anand said she is not actively seeking leadership of the party, saying she is focused on her roles as minister and as MP.
“My view is that we are a team, and we are a team that has to keep delivering for our country,” she said.
The minority Liberal government is in a more challenging position in the House of Commons after the NDP ended a supply-and-confidence deal that provided parliamentary stability for more than two years.
Non-confidence votes are guaranteed to come from the Opposition Conservatives, who are eager to bring the government down.
On Thursday morning, Rodriguez made a symbolic walk over the Alexandra Bridge from Parliament Hill to Gatineau, Que., where he formally announced his plans to run for the Quebec Liberal party leadership.
He said he will now sit as an Independent member of Parliament, which will allow him to focus on his own priorities.
“I was defending the priorities of the government, and I did it in a very loyal way,” he said.
“It’s normal and it’s what I had to do. But now it’s more about my vision, the vision of the team that I’m building.”
Rodriguez said he will stay on as an MP until the Quebec Liberal leadership campaign officially launches in January.
He said that will “avoid a costly byelection a few weeks, or months, before a general election.”
The next federal election must be held by October 2025.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will try to topple the government sooner than that, beginning with a non-confidence motion that is set to be debated Sept. 24 and voted on Sept. 25.
Poilievre has called on the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support him, but both Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet have said they will not support the Conservatives.
Rodriguez said he doesn’t want a federal election right away and will vote against the non-confidence motion.
As for how he would vote on other matters before the House of Commons, “it would depend on the votes.”
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, a non-cabinet role Rodriguez held since 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees and Dylan Robertson
