Poilievre is calling on the Liberal government to designate the Houthis as a terrorist group

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the Liberal government to add the Houthis, a Shia Islamist militant group based in Yemen, to Canada’s terrorist list.

“The Houthis are at the forefront of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is the largest and most well-organized organization in the world that supports Hamas and Hezbollah,” Poilievre said in Toronto on Thursday.

“The murderous Iranian regime uses groups like the Houthis and Hezbollah and Hamas to spread violence and terror around the world.”

Poilievre said the Houthis “could work in our country” but “we don’t know for sure if they have because we don’t have laws to stop them or check them.”

Designating the Houthis as terrorists would allow Canadian banks to freeze any assets they have in Canada. It would also allow the police to charge anyone who provides financial or material support.

The Houthis have disrupted commercial shipping and fired drones and missiles at Israel since the Gaza war began with a Hamas-led offensive on October 7 in southern Israel.

Since January, US and British forces have been on the offensive in Yemen in response to Houthi attacks on commercial ships which the military described as retaliation for Israel’s actions in the Gaza war.

Israel also attacked most of what it said were military targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The Israeli military said the strikes “followed a series of attacks on Israeli territory in recent months.”

Conservatives also want Samidoun to be added to the list

In January, the United States announced that it was isolating the Houthis as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Group for its actions in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said at the time Canadian security and intelligence agencies were investigating whether the Houthis meet the criteria for inclusion on the Canadian list.

“The Americans shut down the Houthis back in January, the Liberals at the time said they were thinking about it. What can you think about?” Poilievre asked on Thursday.

“Sane Conservatives are calling on the NDP/Liberal government to list the Houthis as a terrorist group … which would allow our law enforcement to seize their bank accounts, freeze their operations, and criminalize recruitment, logistics and organizing on Canadian soil. “

On Thursday, LeBlanc’s spokesman Gabriel Brunet told CBC News that Canada’s security agencies are working with allies to determine whether some groups should be classified as terrorists.

“We have great confidence in their ability to do that job and ensure the safety of Canadians,” Brunet said in an email.

Poilievre’s comments come days after his party asked the federal government to add another group to the terrorist list: the pro-Palestinian Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

On October 7, Samidoun organized a protest in Vancouver that has received widespread condemnation.

In videos that are broadcast on the Internetan unidentified masked woman is shown leading a crowd of hundreds in chants of “death to Canada, death to the United States and death to Israel.”

Others in the group were shown burning Canadian flags.

During question time in Parliament on Tuesday, Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman responded to the protest and called for the Samidouns to be designated as a terrorist group.

“So, if burning the Canadian flag, if it calls for the death of Canadians, if inciting hatred in this country, and above all being at the forefront of a terrorist organization that appears on the list is not enough to put it on the list, then what. How long will it take to stop them?” he said.