Before the latest anti-government protests in Iran began, Shadi Dashmiz was in contact with her father every day, exchanging calls, texts and pictures.
But she suddenly lost touch with the 70-year-old who currently lives alone in the country, after the Iranian government disabled the internet and blocked landlines from placing international calls.
For nearly a week, Dashmiz didn’t know what was happening with her father.
But that changed on Tuesday morning, after some people in Iran managed to make international calls and Dashmiz’s father seized the opportunity to speak with his family in Toronto.
“I felt both happiness and sadness at the same time,” Dashmiz said after they spoke.
“Happiness because, you know, I heard their voices after so long, and sadness because I didn’t think that he or me deserved to be waiting for this long just for a simple phone call in the 21st century.”
Dashmiz said her mother, a Canadian permanent resident who lives with her, was planning to visit Iran.
“That’s another terrifying thing that I’m just thinking about every single day … should I let her to go back?” she said. “And what will happen if she’s there, you know, I’m going to lose contact again with her, the same as with my father?”
The protests over the rapid cost-of-living increases began more than two weeks ago, quickly expanding and intensifying across the country despite the government’s violent crackdown.
Canada has condemned Iran for arresting and killing citizens who are protesting against the government and praised the demonstrators’ bravery.
Despite Iran’s move to ease some communication restrictions on Tuesday, not everyone was lucky enough to reconnect with their loved ones.
Aitak Sorahi, who hasn’t been able to speak with her family for a week, said she is still waiting for the moment to hear her father’s voice over the phone.
She said her sister-in-law received a call from Iran. “She spoke with her family and they said my family on my side are OK too,” Sorahi said.
Despite the assurances, she is still concerned for the safety of her family and her in-laws in Iran.
Sorahi, who lives in York Region north of Toronto, said she’s trying to cope with help from “medication, talking with friends, sharing the pain, sharing whatever we have heard,” from their home country.
Foad Farhani, another Canadian Iranian in Toronto, said he still hasn’t heard from his senior parents in Iran.
He believes the Iranian government has opened up some international lines periodically, just to check what is being communicated in and out of the country.
“Depending on what they see, they would open up for the rest of the population, or they would actually shut it down again,” he said.
Farhani said one of his co-workers received a call from her sister in Iran, and he passed on his parents’ contact information so she can reach out to them and see if they are OK.
The Iranian government has said that it cut off internet access after it discovered protesters were receiving orders from outside the country.
But Farhani disagrees.
“I think the main intention of shutting down the internet is just to not allow people to organize and also to actually understand what is really happening,” he said.
“So, they are sitting at home, they don’t have any access to any social media, they only have news on the television which is by the government, so they think that everything is good.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 13, 2026.
Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press
