April 29, 2024
SHARE
CANADALAND
#984 In the Shadow of the Shadow War
As the conflict in the Middle East continues to heat up, many Canadian diaspora communities have been affected and talked about in recent months. But as Iran starts to take a more central role, what is the temperature around the dinner table of Iranian-Canadians?
Jesse Brown
Host & Publisher
Bruce Thorson
Senior Producer
Tristan Capacchione
Audio Editor & Technical Producer
Jonathan Goldsbie
News Editor
Karyn Pugliese
Editor-in-Chief
André Proulx
Production Coordinator

Canadian media coverage of the war in the Middle East has, unsurprisingly, focused on the impact on diaspora communities here in Canada. We have heard about Jewish Canadians, Palestinian Canadians, and we have heard in general terms about the many Muslim communities across Canada and how this is affecting them. But there’s one diaspora community that is increasingly at the center of this conflict, who we have heard very little about. And that is the Iranian community.

Today on the show, three members of the Iranian-Canadian community, Amir Attaran, Samira Mohyeddin, and Kahve Shahrooz, join Jesse to talk about their own thoughts, feelings, and experiences about what is going on in their community.

Editor’s note: In the introduction to this episode, Jesse says, “Canada is home to the second largest Iranian diaspora community in the world. There are 400,000.” 

According to Tehran, Canada is home to 400,000 Iranian-Canadians but Statistics Canada puts the number at closer to 200,000. In either case, Canada is still home to one of the largest Iranian diaspora communities in the world.

 

Host: Jesse Brown 

Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), Jonathan Goldsbie (News Editor), André Proulx (Production Coordinator), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)

Featured guests: Amir Attaran, Samira Mohyeddin, Kahve Shahrooz

 

Additional music by Audio Network

Further reading:

 

Sponsors: Douglas, Article, Oxio

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

More from this series
"You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." -Morpheus
March 5, 2026
“Everybody needs to know about this. We need to shut this down. This is aviation. This is training. There are safety issues here.” -Jeff Weeks, Aviation Executive
March 2, 2026
“I knew that the swarm of reporters was going to descend and that everybody wanted a little piece of somebody. So I was like, well, I will allow myself to be the bone that the news hounds chew on.” -Trent Ernst, Reporter/Editor/Publisher at Tumbler RidgeLines
February 23, 2026
“ If you think the world is better with Canada in it then you have to accept that certain things have to happen for that to continue.” -Jay Baruchel
February 16, 2026
“ That is not what we were promised. That's not what our patients expected.” -Dr. Alier Marrero
February 9, 2026
We wanted to know all of your local gossip. How toxic is your subreddit? How angry are your community Facebook groups? And boy, did you deliver.
February 5, 2026
This is a tale of revenge. It’s also a David and Goliath story, about one man going up against giant corporations and winning.
February 2, 2026
“ They said that Waleed Khan transferred property and funds to ISIS and also was doing the bidding of ISIS and was ready to counsel to commit murders and terrorism.” -Ellin Bessner
January 26, 2026
all podcasts arrow All Podcasts
CANADALAND