’They did not anticipate you’

Michael Ignatieff addresses a vigil for Iran in Vancouver.

"The Iranian regime did not anticipate you," he told the last of a series of 10 nightly vigils at the Vancouver Art Gallery aimed at raising awareness of the violence in Iran and calling for a return to a fair and democratic electoral process in that country.

"They thought they could suppress democratic rights and bully, beat and intimidate the people of Iran and the world would not care, the world would not watch," Ignatieff told the cheering crowd. "They did not anticipate you. I’m proud of Canadians who understand that when others cannot stand up we must stand up for them, and when they cannot speak we have to speak for them."