The Chinese Communist Party is systematically targeting Chinese-Canadians and their families who are opposed to the Chinese government.
The finding comes from a study conducted by the think tank Second Street, interviewing 26 Chinese-Canadians who say that they have been targeted by the CCP through a variety of means.
Respondents reported that Chinese-Canadians are liable to face harassment if they hold religious convictions not accepted by the CCP like being a Christian, adherents to the Falun Gong, or for holding pro-democracy and pro-Hong Kong views.
The CCP has been persecuting religious minorities for holding views that may subvert the CCP’s authority, especially the Falun Gong – a new religious group that is ardently anti-communist and supportive of conservative causes in the West.
One respondent claims that because they are a practitioner of Falun Gong, they received anonymous calls in which automated message machines played hate propaganda or songs praising the CCP.
The same respondent claims that during a 2002 trip to Geneva to raise awareness of the persecution of the Falun Gong to the United Nations, they received a call from a man speaking Mandarin saying he knew about the trip to Geneva and threatened to sexually harass them.
Several of the people interviewed complained that they had their vehicles scratched and their tires slashed due to their practice of Falun Gong.
One Falun Gong practitioner said that around the year 2002, they had come home to find a large branch severed from a house plant placed on their kitchen counter with a knife laid right beside it.
Chinese-Canadians also face harassment on the Chinese social media app WeChat when attempting to promote pro-democracy, pro-Hong Kong causes, as well as candidates in Canadian elections that hold anti-CCP views.
Family members of Chinese-Canadians still living in China also faced risk of having their property expropriated, having their pensions taken away, along with threats of violence. Eight of the 26 respondents indicated that their families back in China had been threatened.
Dom Lucyk, the report’s author, recommends the federal government introduce a foreign agent registry similar to the registries in the United States and in Australia.
Before Parliament’s summer recess, the House of Commons and Senate passed the Countering Foreign Interference Act that would introduce a voluntary foreign agent registry.
Lucyk argues that foreign agents with ties to the CCP seeking to harass Canadians may not be enthusiastic about placing themselves on such a registry, possibly making the measure ineffective. Law enforcement would require additional resources and tools in order to enforce non-compliance with the registry.
Lucyk also calls on CSIS and other law enforcement agencies to be more transparent when foreign interference and transnational repression do not rise to the level of criminal prosecution to serve as a deterrent for agents of the CCP and help those being targeted know who are responsible for their harassment.
Such a proposal would more than likely garner support from a majority of Canadians, as public opinion polls find that a majority of Canadians would like the names of federal MPs suspected of collaborating with foreign governments to be released.