Zena Kahn Sheardown CM is a Guyanese-Canadian woman recognized for her role in the "Canadian Caper" during the Iran Hostage Crisis. Together with her husband, John Sheardown—a Canadian immigration officer stationed at the Canadian embassy in Tehran—she sheltered six American diplomats in their home for over two months (approximately 70 days) following the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979. Their actions allowed the Americans to evade capture by Iranian revolutionaries while plans were made for their escape from Iran.
In 1980, John Sheardown was appointed to the Order of Canada for his role in the operation. Zena Sheardown was initially ineligible because she was not a Canadian citizen. After her husband campaigned for her recognition, she was awarded the first-ever honorary appointment to the Order of Canada in 1981. By 1986, she had become a naturalized Canadian citizen, and her honorary appointment was converted to a full membership in the Order of Canada, making her the first person to be "removed" from the Order—though this is generally regarded as a transfer of status rather than a removal.
The Sheardowns were portrayed in the 1981 television film Escape from Iran: The Canadian Caper. Director Ben Affleck later apologized to the Sheardowns for omitting their story from the 2012 Hollywood film Argo, which dramatized the Canadian Caper.
