After weeks of worrying, local Iranian-Canadians are finally hearing from their families back in their country of origin, which cut most connections to the outside world in response to nationwide demonstrations against the Islamic Republic regime.
Iranian Canadians are struggling to contact their families back home. pic.twitter.com/Yq3NfelTmA
— Langley Advance Times (@LangleyTimes) January 20, 2026
Anoush Ebtekar, whose family moved from Tehran to Langley’s Brookswood neighbourhood back when he was a teenager, said he was able to have a brief phone conversation with relatives still in Iran.
“They are only able to call out with [a] land line, which is extremely expensive, and the government more than likely is monitoring those calls,” Ebtekar told the Langley Advance Times.
“So you can’t really get into the details of what’s going on. They just say, we’re okay, we didn’t go outside. We have food, take it easy. “
It has been an anxious time for for Ebtekar and others in the Iranian-Canadian community, who have been struggling to contact friends and relatives in Iran after authorities cut off internet and telephone access.
“None of us are sleeping,” Ebtekar said.
White Rock resident Mostafa Sabeti, who owns and operates a martial arts gym in South Surrey and has represented Canada internationally as wushu head coach, said his parents and brothers still live in Iran.
“For the last two weeks, I couldn’t speak with them because the Iranian government shut down the internet, shut down the landline, cell phone line,” Sabeti said.
“Two weeks [to] not hear from them. Two weeks, you don’t know if they’re alive or they’re dead.”
One of Sabeti’s brothers was finally able to get a message to him, to let him know “he’s doing OK.”
On Sunday, Surrey resident Siamak Pourhabib was able to talk to his mother, who told him she was OK.
“It was a big relief for me,” Pourhabib said.
“Outgoing calls are open now, but we cannot contact them. So after 10 days, I could talk to my mother for five minutes. For the past two weeks, they were in total blackout.”
In late December, protests against government repression and a deepening economic crisis erupted in several cities across Iran.
Despite the communications blackout, reports have emerged from Iran estimating as many as 40,000 protesters have been killed by Iranian security forces, who have been using live ammunition to kill protesters. As many as 300,000 have been wounded. Thousands more have been arrested.
“They literally brought out as much force as they could onto the streets and they killed as many people as they could,” said Ebtekar.
Sabeti said the Canadian government needs to take action against the “evil” regime in Iran, in particular members of the Iranian government who have moved to Canada and used “blood money” to buy local properties and businesses.
“Seize the assets, and give [them] back to the people of Iran, and stop them transferring money and their families to the soil of Canada.”