Written by: Aidan Jonah

A document obtained by The Canada Files showcases the Canadian government’s close connection and assistance to anti-communist collaborator Chinese Canadians who are spearheading efforts to usurp the pro-cooperation majority of Chinese Canadians and take control of the diaspora.

The China Human Rights Forum

On November 20, 2023, Global Affairs Canada (Canada’s foreign ministry) and the University of Ottawa co-hosted the “China Human Rights Forum”. The document obtained by TCF sheds more light on the forum, after we touched on the forum itself in October 2023. It gives the telling full title (bolding added): “China Human Rights Forum: Toward Accountability”.

The document contains a six-page draft concept note whose guest names match those of the final poster, on the last page (pg. 7). No full pages were redacted or withheld and public posts found by TCF verified the note’s contents. The document came from TCF’s ATIP request to Global Affairs Canada:

“Email communications at ADM level and above about the The China Human Rights Forum, co-hosted by Global Affairs Canada and the University of Ottawa.

Timeline: November 1, 2023 to November 22, 2023"

The document notes that Canadian senior officials “to be invited to relevant sessions” included “DMA [Associate Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs], OGM [Asia-Pacific Branch], IFM [International Security and Political Affairs], MFM [Global Issues and Development], BFM [International Business Development, Investment and Innovation (Chief Trade Commissioner)], PS/ADM Aubertin-Giguere [Associate Assistant Deputy Minister – Public Safety Canada] and IRCC/ADM Park [Assistant Deputy Minister – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada].”

It notes that a Parliamentary Secretary (a sitting MP) or a representative from the OPD - Trade & Diplomacy North Asia would provide “opening remarks and introduction” (pg. 1). This was a Canadian foreign ministry co-hosted forum, so this means MP Rob Oliphant was likely the Parliamentary Secretary who could have spoke (he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs then – and still is).

The forum is an amalgamation of international imperialists and domestic Chinese Canadian collaborators, and Canada’s foreign ministry was an equal part of its creation.

After being contacted by The Canada Files, Global Affairs Canada failed to meet their own extended deadline to answer TCF’s questions and and did not respond to the content our request for comment (until time of this article’s release), only stating that:

“Your request is still being addressed. We will circle back to you as soon as we have updates to share.”

Hong Kong Special Autonomous Region

Rather than being the victim of an aggressive Canadian parliament, it seems the Liberal foreign ministry was pushing for a change in Canada’s engagement with China’s Hong Kong SAR. GAC included a discussion question in the forum’s first session (pg. 2), “How should countries like Canada respond to the irreversible changes that are gradually erasing Hong Kong's special status within China?”

Speakers for the session included Safeguard Defenders’ Campaign Manager, Laura Harth, SD being known for its paranoia spreading campaign targeting ‘Chinese police stations’ beginning in 2022. Because of SD’s report[s], the RCMP targeted two Chinese Canadian community centers in Québec, prompting them to sue the RCMP for $2.5 million (now $4.9 million) in December 2023, given the lack of evidence the RCMP provided and the excessively public nature of the investigation.

They also included Benedict Rogers, the then-Executive Director of Hong Kong Watch, an anti-China organization which a former staffer at Apple Daily, testified in court, that [Jimmy] Lai had instructed her to assist Rogers in establishing. Hong Kong Watch Patrons in Canada include “former Minister of Justice and Attorney General Irwin Cotler, Melissa Lantsman MP, James Bezan MP, Senator Leo Housakos, Garnett Genuis MP, Cathay Wagantall MP, and former Senator Jim Munson.” Rogers would go on to force his own resignation by criticizing a colleague for their “Malaysian mindset”, resigning in August 2024, but staying on as a trustee. Rogers is also an Advisor to the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition on China.

Finn Lau was an organizer in the 2019 Hong Kong riots, “founder of ‘Hong Kong Liberty’ and populariser of the doctrine of ‘If we burn, you burn with us’,” and was the third of four speakers for the first session. The last person’s name was redacted.

In November 2024, Canadian parliamentarians would go on to initiate a study into the Hong Kong SAR’s special status, including the diplomatic status of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) staff, with plans to have anti-China activists testify, which only stopped because Canada’s parliament was prorogued (session ended) by Canada’s Prime Minister.

Tibet Autonomous Region

The Canada Files has covered the narrative of ‘Tibetan Residential Schools’, a narrative birthed by CIA-front (National Endowment for Democracy) funded Tibet Action Institute in December 2021. The narrative compared “comparing Tibetan boarding schools to Canadian residential schools (a brutal genocidal effort to assimilate Indigenous children and separate them from their parents)”. Jerry Grey already debunked this narrative for The Canada Files, pointing out how the Tibet Autonomous Region is incredibly vast (necessitating boarding schools) and that even CBC propaganda against the schools showed the Tibetan language being used.

For the forum’s third session (pg. 2-3), the discussion question was: “Given Canada's own dark history with residential schools, what should Canada do to ensure these mistakes are not repeated elsewhere?” One speaker would know the Liberal government well.

Sherap Therchin (pg. 1), Executive Director of Canada-Tibet Committee, got his role after participating in Canada’s Parliamentary Friends of Tibet Internship Program and then short-term work with Global Affairs Canada. Before that, “he was the Deputy Chief of Tibet Fund India, with responsibility for oversight and evaluation of USAID projects supporting education and healthcare in Tibetan refugee communities.” USAID is the regime change arm of the United States government.

CTC unsurprisingly has been open to taking money from the NED since Therchin came to power.

In 2021, this author wrote the article: “The Canadian social democratic 'left' smears China to deflect from our colonial history of genocide”. Turns out the Liberals are on the same page as the social democrats. Such a shocker. Who could have ever seen this coming.

The shamelessness of colonial criminals has no limits, ever.

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Canada has been determined to slander China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Before the US even falsely declared that China was committing genocide against Uygur Muslims in January 2021, a Canadian parliament subcommittee had already allowed a CIA-front funded group, Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project (URAP), to drive a report which claimed China was committing genocide against Uygur Muslims.

URAP’s Executive Director? Mehmet Tohti.

In February 2021, Canada’s parliament voted for a non-binding motion to declare a ‘Uyghur genocide’. When Canada’s Senate declined to pass a similar motion, URAP had a meltdown and accused Independent Senator, Yuen Pau Woo of “acting as a spokesperson for China rather than for Canada”, promising to retaliate against Pau Woo by campaigning for his expulsion from the Senate.

URAP went on to successfully advocate for Canada to commit to bringing in 10,000 Uygur ‘refugees’ (meanwhile the UN-listed terrorist East Turkestan Islamic Movement has never been listed as a terrorist organization in Canada) and be the organization given $1 million to manage for them (which the Canadian government tried to hide when TCF broke the story).

Tohti is also known for advocating that Canada admit a Guantanamo prisoner, Anvar (Ali) Hassan, a then 34-year-old who “fled China to live and train in a camp in Afghanistan in 2001” and was “later caught in the hills of Pakistan”, who “admitted to military training in Afghanistan” with the motivation of fighting the “oppressive Chinese government”.

Canada’s government also helped fund URAP’s participation in Canada’s Foreign Interference Inquiry with a grant to The Human Rights Coalition, and stood to the side as Tohti’s temper tantrums about the terrifying risk of being asked critical questions by maligned political figures, were successful in crushing this risk. The Human Rights Coalition, including URAP got $178k CAD to ensure they could participate in the Foreign Interference Inquiry. The ‘Chinese Canadian Concern Group’ got $334k CAD for this purpose.

URAP also has advocated for a replica of the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLPA) in Canada, seeking the help of “the United States officials” to “raise this issue in bilateral discussions with their Canadian counterparts”.

Tohti was a speaker at the forum’s second session, which was on “Forced Labour in China: Supply Chains and Xinjiang” (pg. 2).

The session’s discussion question: “What can government, industry and civil society do to address the challenges of supply chains affected by forced labour?”

URAP is fake opposition to the Liberal government, operating in service of the US drive towards war on China, used to justify action on the grounds of supposed community groundswell demanding action. Canada’s foreign ministry wants the same thing as URAP, to use the imaginary ‘forced labour’ in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in a bid to destabilize Xinjiang economically.

The way to cement this influence would be for URAP to be crafted into the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (created by Canada’s government in 1940) of the Chinese Canadian community, an extreme-right organization that dominates the diaspora and supports Canadian imperialism. And wouldn’t you know it, that’s exactly what URAP wants. Kayum Masimov, “project coordinator of Ottawa-based Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project” said to Canada’s Foreign Interference Inquiry, on October 2, 2024 (pg. 142):

“We would further recommend long term organizational and capacity building support to fund Uyghur Canadian organizations to build community resilience. Allocate federal funding to support Uyghur Canadian organizations in their capacity building efforts. This would include resources for advocacy, community outreach, and legal support. Strengthening these organizations will help ensure that they can respond effectively to interference to support their community members.”

Foreign interference paranoia

“Authoritarian governments are increasingly seeking to extend the application of repressive domestic policies beyond their own borders. Human rights defenders, dissidents and overseas diaspora groups are increasingly vulnerable to these tactics, despite living in liberal democratic jurisdictions. The role of PRC propaganda in this context will also be examined”

Canadian foreign ministry’s concept note for the fourth session (pg. 3)

Speakers included the aforementioned Laura Harth and Ai-Men Lau, ‘Social Engagement team lead’ of the Open Technology Fund, Soros (Foundation to Promote Open Society), UK government-funded, Taiwan-area administration-promoted, CIA-front promoted, DoubleThink Lab.

The famously moderate Finn Lau spoke again, while Cheuk Kwan, “author and diaspora leader, co-chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy,” also spoke. Note how Canada’s foreign ministry wants Kwan to be considered a diaspora leader.

Even more brazen is GAC’s invitation to Sheng Xue to speak. Xue is the most separatist of separatists this author has ever seen.

Xue proudly states in her X bio:

“She is a staunch supporter and activist for Tibet, East Turkestan, Southern Mongolia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Manchuria and other regions who are resisting the CCP's tyranny and pursuing freedom and independence. SHENG Xue is the state advisor for the restoration of Manchuria… a key leader of the overseas Chinese pro-democracy movement”.

Xue claims that “Over the past three decades” she “has been the main victim of the CCP's transnational suppression.”

The panel also contained Grace Wollensak, the Falun Dafa Association of Canada’s national coordinator. Falun Dafa is Falun Gong. Falun Gong is a racist, anti-science, anti-communist cult with a ‘peace-loving’ garb placed on top, allowed to spread by the West because of its long-term usefulness for whipping up negative sentiments about China to help the West’s plotting to cripple China and balkanize it.

Again, far from being slow on implementing a foreign influence registry, Canada’s foreign ministry was on board for far longer than they have admitted.

The fourth session’s questions (bolding added) were: “What can Canada do to ensure all those in Canada can enjoy rights and freedoms free from intimidation and repression by foreign state actors? What existing tools could be deployed for this purpose and what new policy or legislative tools are needed? (pg. 3)”

The fierce anti-China advocates were helped by the Canadian state in another way. The forum contained a “Networking lunch” (pg. 1), part-way through. All these speakers had an easy way to connect and develop cooperation for future anti-China activities, directly thanks to Canada’s government.

An Instagram post for Students for a Free Tibet International confirms that the four public topics were Tibet, transnational repression, forced labor, along with media freedom and democracy”, matching the public topics in the draft concept note obtained by TCF.

Who does Canada want to control the Chinese Canadian community?

Canada’s government and state institutions do not operate in good faith towards China or Chinese Canadians. Once CSIS’ Director, David Vigneault, bought the US line of ‘China danger’ hook, line and sinker in Spring/Summer 2018 (pg. 10-12), Canada’s relations with China spiraled.

Canada kidnapped Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou on the US’ behest in Winter 2018. A Canadian parliament subcommittee began the process that would lead to a 2021 Xinjiang genocide vote, in 2018. Canada condemned China’s Hong Kong SAR in its handling of the 2019 riots and also condemned the 2020 Hong Kong National Security Law (which is strikingly similar to Canadian national security laws).

Some Canadian MPs and Senators quickly joined the anti-China Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) when it was founded in 2020, and more of them have joined since. They have gotten no pushback from the government, for pushing parliament’s actions to become more anti-China.

A Canadian Senator was viciously attacked by a CIA-front funded group which promised to cost him his position, in retaliation for opposing a bill they wanted to see pass, and Canada’s government did nothing.

Canada’s RCMP bought into Safeguard Defenders’ “Chinese police stations” paranoia in 2022, and targeted Chinese community centers in Québec. The Chinese Canadian community has since rallied (PDF to be inserted) to save a building of the Chinese Family Services from repossession, and continues to wait as the RCMP has stalled a community lawsuit by 13 months to complete their investigation into the centers. The community has urged the RCMP to move rapidly to complete the investigation, and reiterated their cooperation with the investigation since day one.

Meanwhile, Canada had already begun to quietly treat the Taiwan area as a sovereign nation by 2022.

When the Chinese foreign interference paranoia was triggered by CSIS, and compliant reporters such as the Globe and Mail’s reporter duo – Robert Fife and Steven Chase – and the now-much discredited North American security source-reliant reporter Sam Cooper, Canada’s Liberal government made a weak ‘pushback’ attempt. Under pressure, the Trudeau appointed special rapporteur to investigate foreign interference, David Johnston, folded and resigned after not giving the imperial Chinese Canadian diaspora faction everything it wanted.

Canada’s parliament was also busy getting ready to demonize China on the Tibet front. The same parliamentary subcommittee which targeted Xinjiang was doing a study on the supposed ‘Tibetan Residential Schools’ which the forum discussed in fall 2023, after that subcommittee put out a report pushing the CIA-front funded narrative in the summer. In November 2023, right around the time of the forum, 24 Liberal MPs including four Liberal cabinet ministers met with President of the “Central Tibetan Administration”, Sikyong Penpa Tsering, who came to Canada, “to garner support for Tibetan freedom struggle”.

Then, in June 2024, Canada’s parliament voted in favour of a non-binding motion that “refers to Tibetans as ‘a people and a nation’ who should get self-determination.” In Summer 2024, a Canadian official, Amy Awad (Director General, Digital and Creative Marketplace Frameworks at the Department of Canadian Heritage), called Taiwan province a country, and the department didn’t condemn the comments nor did the foreign ministry say anything to oppose Awad’s comments.

Canada is also busy participating in US-led ‘freedom of navigation’ missions in the South China Sea, to harass China. Further, Canada openly came out in support of Uygur and Tibetan separatists, after they were sanctioned by China for their separatist activities. More Canadian misdeeds towards China have already been discussed in this article.

Canada’s government has a clear objective: to impose the imperial diaspora faction of the Chinese Canadian community, as the ruler of the Chinese Canadian community. Canada’s funding to and political support of the imperial diaspora faction of the Chinese Canadian community puts this beyond doubt.

Canada wants this imperial diaspora faction to rule, just as the UCC was made to rule the Ukrainian Canadian community. The UCC has ruled their community for 85 years and there’s no sign of this control ending.

Yet, many in the Chinese Canadian community are not fooled by the pro-colonial elements in the community. They act as a fifth column for the government’s anti-China policies inside the community. From Canadian history, we see how the government’s view of China determined its policy towards Chinese Canadians. Remember the 62 years of state racism (Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act) against Chinese immigrants when China was weak.

Today, China is economically challenging the west and the Canadian government views Beijing as an adversary to be isolated. Ottawa’s policies towards China determine how the government treats Chinese Canadians. The democratic rights of Chinese Canadians are being attacked under the guise of the ‘China threat’ and ‘Chinese interference’. The rights of Chinese Canadian in participating in the political process are being undermined with the promotion of the “good” Chinese to divide the community.

The Canada Files is aware that many Chinese Canadians are forming a united front within their community and with other Canadians, to protect their full democratic rights to participate in the political process without their loyalty being questioned. Their efforts will be covered by this outlet.

Document

A-2023-02823

Aidan Jonah is the Editor-in-Chief of The Canada Files, a socialist, anti-imperialist news outlet founded in 2019. Jonah wrote a report for the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council, held in September 2021.

Editor’s note: The Canada Files is the country's only news outlet focused on Canadian foreign policy. We've provided critical investigations & hard-hitting analysis on Canadian foreign policy since 2019, and need your support.

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