Opinion article by Gregory Staley
Written On: 2026-07-27
Some of the work in this article was possible because of Blacklock’s Reporter – a fantastic news outlet doing important work for Canada.
Only 12 days after Canada’s former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Iran’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Javad Zarif, the RCMP decided to scrap their plans for a Canadian-led criminal investigation into the downing of Flight PS752. The flight was shot down by two Iranian missiles and killed 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.
The RCMP and the Liberal government are embroiled in another major scandal. This scandal once again calls into question Canada’s police force: Is the RCMP independent from the Prime Minister’s Office? Similar to SNC-Lavalin and the Nova Scotia Mass shooting probe, this scandal leaves Canadians wondering if they can trust Canada’s national police force to act in accordance with justice and not at the whims of bad political actors seeking to serve their self-interests.
To briefly recap, in SNC-Lavalin, the government pressured Canada’s Attorney General to act in accordance with their desired political outcome and in the Nova Scotia shooting probe, a senior Mountie testified that he believed political interference was behind then RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki’s decision to have police release details on the guns used in the Nova Scotia mass shooting. Allegedly, Lucki promised the Prime Minister’s Office that the information on the guns would be released by the RCMP in connection with the Liberal government’s proposed gun control legislation.
It seems that the new RCMP Commissioner, Michael Duheme, is following in Lucki’s footsteps by allowing the PS752 cover-up to continue.
Timeline of events PS752
Sometimes, the best way to illustrate corruption is to use a timeline of events – so we have provided readers with just that.
January 8th, 2020: Iran shoots down Ukrainian airliner PS752 with two surface-to-air missiles. In doing so, they killed 176 people, including 136 people with ties to Canada. 55 of those on board were Canadian citizens, and 30 of them were permanent residents of Canada.
January 11th, 2020: Prime Minister Trudeau meets with Shahin Mogahaddam, a husband and father who lost his wife and son on PS752. The Prime Minister takes a photo op with him and promises that he “would not rest until there is justice and accountability.”
January 22nd, 2020: The RCMP puts together a detailed proposal to launch a criminal investigation into the shooting down of PS752 by Iran. The RCMP says a Canadian investigation is needed.
January 27th, 2020: RCMP Mounties met with officials from the Department of Justice and Public Prosecution Service.
February 14th, 2020: Prime Minister Trudeau meets with then Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.
February 26th, 2020: The RCMP emails the Department of Justice and informs them that they will not proceed with a criminal investigation into the shoot down of civilian airline PS752.
December 2nd, 2020: Shahin Moghaddam, a father of two of the victims of PS752 (his wife Shakiba and son Rosstin), gives evidence to the RCMP of a phone call from what is believed to be a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps member.
In that phone call, the IRGC source told Mr. Moghaddam that the shootdown of flight PS752 was intentional. In a chilling statement made by the IRGC source, Mr. Moghaddam was told that “the unlucky lottery” had “fallen on this passenger plane” – referring to PS752. The source added that the large number of Iranian passengers on the plane created “the illusion for them that they will eventually confuse the issue with a technical error.”
At this point, the RCMP had already internally indicated that they had no plans to pursue a criminal investigation, and it seems they never considered this evidence seriously.
June 24th, 2021: The government releases its findings in the Yaworski report, stating that the incident was all an accident and that there is “no evidence” it was intentional, despite evidence submitted to the RCMP by Shahin Moghaddam indicating it was intentional,
August 12th, 2022: Diverge Media is informed by the RCMP that despite Ukraine being at war with Russia, they don’t feel the need to launch a criminal investigation and that “Despite the current circumstances in Ukraine” they “continue to have confidence in their efforts.”
NSIRA report 2026: The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) releases the report of its investigation into the RCMP and its refusal to open a criminal investigation into PS752. The NSIRA report notes that the RCMP didn’t document any of their reasoning to drop their plans to criminally investigate the shoot-down of civilian airline PS752.
The RCMP also redacted documents made after the decision, explaining their rationale based on “solicitor-client privilege.” In essence, the RCMP is claiming to be a client of the Department of Justice and hiding behind solicitor-client privilege to avoid disclosing the reasoning behind its decision.
This scandal is massive for several reasons. The biggest aspect that sticks out to me? It appears the RCMP is politically captured. A conversation is held behind closed doors with the Department of Justice, and suddenly the RCMP drops plans to investigate a tragedy that killed 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents. How many other closed-door conversations have led the RCMP to drop investigations?
How many times will the RCMP hide from accountability behind solicitor-client privilege in the future? Do these closed-door conversations apply to RCMP media relations and how they cover/discuss crime in Canada? If we can’t trust the police to perform their jobs shielded from political interference, then we are in a soft police state. If Canadians can’t trust the institution of policing, then what can they trust?
It’s no secret that Justin Trudeau was upset at Harper’s closing of the Iranian embassy and that he had wanted to normalize relations with Iran for quite some time. Did Prime Minister Trudeau intentionally deny justice to the affected families of PS752 to keep this possibility open? Trudeau ignored evidence that the downing of a passenger flight carrying 55 Canadian citizens was premeditated – did he do it to keep the possibility of re-establishing relations with Iran alive?
The families of those lost in PS752 deserve real accountability and real justice, not this sick perversion of it. Trudeau looked families affected by this grotesque action by Iran and promised justice, and then it appears he worked to subvert it. He got his selfies, he got his press, and then he sank the knife into the back of those seeking justice, and the media has quietly moved on as if it never occurred.
My heart goes out to all the PS752 families affected by this tragedy and subversion of justice.
For more updates on this story, we highly recommend following Former RCMP Detective Andy Brooke on X. Mr. Brooke has been working alongside a number of these families and their lawyers in seeking justice and accountability.
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