Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the government to designate as a terrorist entity the Iranian-backed militia group accused of plotting attacks on a synagogue and the U.S. Consulate in Toronto.

He writes in a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney that listing Kata’ib Hezbollah would criminalize any dealings with the organization and permit law enforcement to seize assets and ban members from entering or remaining in the country.

“There is no justification for delay. The Liberals have failed to enforce Canada’s terrorist laws with the urgency and strength Canadians expect,” read the letter, dated Aug. 2. 

“Parliament did not list terrorist entities merely to put their names on a government website. Canadians expect their laws to be enforced to the fullest extent: terrorist assets frozen and seized, financing networks dismantled, and operatives stopped at the border or removed from the country.”

Kataib Hezbollah senior official Mohammad Bagher Saad Dawood al-Saadi confessed to U.S. authorities of the group’s involvement in the March 2026 shootings at the U.S. consulate and a Toronto synagogue. There were three separate shootings at synagogues in the city that month, and Toronto police arrested an 18-year-old man in connection to two of those incidents. 

No injuries were reported in any of the shootings. 

Kataib Hezbollah is already listed as a foreign terrorist organization in the U.S. and it’s accused of receiving training, weapons, financing, intelligence and logistical support from Iran’s government.

Iran’s autocratic government has long been regarded as one of the top state sponsors of terrorism, using proxy networks to target Jewish communities and dissidents living abroad.

Poilievre said there are already some 700 people living in Canada with ties to the Iranian regime.

“Canadians deserve to know who these individuals are, how they entered Canada and what your government is doing to remove those who pose a threat,” he said in the letter. 

The Canadian government designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity in 2024, following years of calls from the Conservatives and other critics.

Poilievre said this designation “means little if its commanders, proxies, financiers and hired criminals remain free to operate here,” and the government must explain what’s being done in response to alleged Kata’ib Hezbollah-directed attacks.

“Canada must be a safe haven for Canadians, not for the terrorists, agents and proxies sent to silence the victims of the Iranian regime.”