Canada’s spy agency is warning of a Chinese plot to recruit Canadian government officials and academics.
In an alert sent to federal employees earlier this month and seen by CBC News, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) warns of a large-scale email campaign trying to lure workers into an overseas talent program.
“The [People’s Republic of China] is likely using this recruitment campaign to acquire Canadian knowledge and expertise,” says the alert.
Beijing has defended its prosecution of two Canadians for espionage, after The Globe and Mail reported that Michael Spavor blames intelligence work done by Michael Kovrig for their nearly three-year-long detention.
Mr. Spavor is seeking a multimillion-dollar settlement from Ottawa, two sources told The Globe, alleging he was arrested in China in late 2018 because he unwittingly provided intelligence on North Korea to Mr. Kovrig, which was later shared with Canada and allied spy services.
A recent study reveals hundreds of publications from Toronto universities collaborating with Chinese academic institutions linked to the military on sensitive research. A former intelligence officer said the ongoing partnerships signal an incentive gap in curbing such practices.
The study, released in October by the Frontier Assessments Unit (FAU), identified a total of 371 publications from collaborations between Canadian universities and seven Chinese academies known as the “Seven Sons of National Defence” due to their strong affiliations with the People’s Liberation Army, the primary military force of communist China.
A House of Commons committee is set to question Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland about Canada’s dealings with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which has been accused of being under the influence of Beijing. This comes five months after Ms. Freeland’s commitment to suspend collaboration with the bank.
MPs voted in favour of an Oct. 23 motion asking the House of Commons Special Committee on Canada-China Relations to invite the Minister of Finance to appear as a witness in its examination of “Canada’s freeze in government-led activity” with the AIIB, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
LISTEN: “Bill Morneau said it was about jobs, jobs, jobs. There were no jobs. Then whistleblower @BobPickard came out and said the bank was a ‘cesspool’ of Communist intrigue.” #cdnpoli https://t.co/iY6nQVw6gR
— Holly Doan (@hollyanndoan) November 14, 2023
As China’s foreign interference in Canada draws increasing scrutiny, a new report details how the communist regime influences politicians and stifles persecuted groups. Notably, it highlights ongoing efforts to suppress support for Falun Gong adherents and their quest to end the persecution of their spiritual practice, which began in 1999.
The 130-page report, released by the Falun Dafa Association of Canada (FDAC) on Oct. 25, details Chinese Communist Party (CCP) strategies for foreign interference, focusing on adherents of Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, in Canada.
OTTAWA — Former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole told MPs Thursday that Canada has been ignoring threats from China for far too long and the country must wake up to the new realities of Beijing’s interference in our democracy.
“As a country, we must realize that Canada has been like the frog in a pot of boiling water; multiple governments of both stripes have ignored our intelligence agencies, who have been warning about the heat in the water from China,” he told MPs at a House of Commons committee.
OTTAWA—Newly-released secret documents show the country’s top intelligence agency was concerned there are “no consequences” for foreign interference in Canadian democracy, as a parliamentary committee calls on the federal government to strengthen criminal laws to crack down on the threat that is the focus of an upcoming public inquiry.
The head of Canada’s spy agency says previous attempts by the Chinese regime to purchase locations in the country for collecting intelligence have been blocked by the government.
“We have seen in the past, acquisition of land, acquisition of different companies … when you start to dig a little bit further, you realize that … there is another intent,” said Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Director David Vigneault in an interview with U.S. network CBS.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and dozens of MPs have been targeted by a “Spamouflage” campaign connected to China, which saw a bot network leave thousands of comments on their social media accounts in recent weeks.
According to a new statement from Global Affairs Canada, the federal government’s “Rapid Response Mechanism” detected the campaign, which it says traces back to the People’s Republic of China.
The Chinese communist regime employs a “mass collection” approach to subvert its target countries, sending numerous operatives abroad to gradually infiltrate different facets of society, says a former senior manager with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
In an interview with The Epoch Times “American Thought Leaders” program, Michel Juneau-Katsuya spoke on the interference tactics used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that he has observed over the past several decades. They involve collaborating with gang members and tycoons who have immigrated to Canada and made investments there, he said.
The Canadian government has given Chinese law enforcement assistance in their pursuit of fugitive Chinese nationals living abroad for decades, an investigation by CBC’s The Fifth Estate has learned.
In Canada, that help has sometimes come as a result of quid pro quo deals, people with first-hand knowledge of the relationship, including two former Canadian ambassadors to China, told The Fifth Estate.
A former deputy minister of public safety testified on Thursday that it was “not my job” to warn a Conservative MP that he was being targeted by Chinese foreign agents attempting to influence a federal election.
The head of Canada’s intelligence agency spoke openly about China’s interest in partnering with Canadian universities to gain a military edge during a conference with his Five Eyes counterparts on Tuesday.
“China has been very transparent,” Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Director David Vigneault said.
“Everything that they’re doing in our universities and in new technology, it’s going back into a system very organized to create dual-use applications for the military.”
China continues to move hundreds of millions of tons of coal across its railway system each year, drawing ire from Western pundits as other countries are forcing citizens to ‘go green’ and reduce their carbon footprint.
Scottish journalist Andrew Neil recently ripped Western governments in the wake of China’s projects, such as the Menghua Railway, which is the longest-coal transporting train in the world.
The 1,141-mile railway moves 200million tons of coal each year as fossil fuel use – and traditional greenhouse gas emissions – continue to skyrocket in the communist nation.
A second national security adviser to the prime minister got a warning in 2021 from the nation’s spy agency that Beijing was targeting MPs, a classified document obtained by The Epoch Times shows, but he didn’t brief it up. Additionally, this detail was not included in the special rapporteur’s report on foreign interference.
The Epoch Times has obtained, through the access to information regime, a partly redacted Top Secret limited distribution briefing note the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) sent to a handful of government officials in May 2021, advising them it would conduct defensive briefings with the targeted MPs.
