China, Hong Kong and Foreign Interference

Born in Hong Kong, Jenny immigrated to Canada at a young age. She has been outspoken against human rights violations by the Chinese Communist Party, and is heartbroken to see the enactment of the draconian National Security Law and the Article 23 national security legislation leading to the demise of Hong Kong's One Country Two Systems. Jenny also advocates for the Uyghur Muslim minority. In 2023, Jenny was informed by CSIS that she is an "evergreen" target of the Chinese government. She has declared that she will not bend to foreign interference.

iPolitics NEWS: House approves motion to fast track government’s foreign agent registry bill

MPs have reached a deal to fast track the Trudeau government’s foreign agent registry bill through the House of Commons.

NDP MP Jenny Kwan won unanimous support on Thursday for her motion setting up accelerated timelines for the bill’s progression through the national security committee, with the legislation now set to return to the House on June 12.

It comes only a day after the NDP voted down a Conservative motion that would have set up a final House vote on the bill next week.

The NDP said the Conservative motion didn’t provide enough time to scrutinize the bill, hear from witnesses and potentially offer changes.

Kwan’s motion requires the national security committee to prioritize the study of the bill and extends its sitting hours to hear from witnesses. It also requires the committee to invite Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc and officials from the RCMP, CSIS and the Department of Public Safety as well as the prime minister’s national security advisor to testify.

Prospective amendments must be submitted to the committee clerk by end of day June 7 and one meeting on June 10 will be devoted to clause-by-clause consideration, under the terms of the motion.

The bill will then return to the House and must be debated at the report stage on June 12.

HANSARD: Speech in Parliament on foreign interference, Liberal government response and interim report

Parliament VIDEO: Speech in Parliament on foreign interference, Liberal government response and interim report

On May 9, 2024, MP Jenny Kwan (NDP-Vancouver East) made a speech about foreign interference, in response to a motion regarding cyber attacks targeting Members of Parliament.

HANSARD: Will the Prime Minister take action on Don Valley North now?

CIMM#98: Government's Response to Afghanistan Final Report, Processing Times for PR Pathways for Hongkongers and Canadian Armed Forces' Applications

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

At this juncture, I would like to move the following motion:

That the committee request that Global Affairs (GAC) provide the unredacted findings of the internal investigation regarding the issuance of “inauthentic” facilitation letters to third parties to the law clerk and parliamentary counsel for redaction according to his discretion before being sent to the committee, and further that GAC provide to the community the unredacted name and title of the official(s) within GAC who provided the “inauthentic” facilitation letter to George Young, acknowledged receipt of Senator McPhedran's email and shared the names of the vulnerable Afghans with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada no later than 30 days following the adoption of the motion.

Mr. Chair, I'm moving this motion today because we heard on August 25, 2021, from Senator McPhedran. In her testimony, she said, “the facilitation template in question was sent to me by George Young”. That's a quote from her testimony. She went on further to say, “Mr. Young received this facilitation template from Global Affairs Canada, and he told me this in writing.” She then further stated:

Names for the rolling list were sent frequently to George Young and Mr. Oz Jungic, a senior policy adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Jungic confirmed receipt of the names to me on August 24, with an assurance that they would do everything they could to try to help get these people out.

Senator McPhedran went on to say, “Mr. Young stated that he had put these names 'into the system'.” She also said:

When George Young sent me the facilitation templates on August 25, he wrote, with the first one, “I have received this from a colleague at GAC...try it. George.”

What we need to get to is who from GAC provided that “inauthentic” facilitation letter to George Young.

Mr. Chair, to that end, I am moving this motion so that we can get that information.

Globe & Mail: Foreign interference a 'stain' on Canada's electoral process, Hogue inquiry concludes

NDP MP Jenny Kwan, who CSIS said has been targeted by Beijing, said Ottawa must do more to protect Chinese-Canadians from intimidation and disinformation practices during election campaigns.

Ms. Kwan said she hopes Justice Hogue will recommend that election monitoring be removed from the hands of senior civil servants who answer to the prime minister.

“The report noted there is an systemic failure of communications by the government to those who are targeted or impacted by foreign-interference actors,” she said. “I strongly believe what we need is one independent agency to be mandated as the lead to take on this work.”

She also said Justice Hogue needs to hold Mr. Trudeau and his top aides to account in the final report on how his government handled CSIS intelligence that warned about China state interference and disinformation efforts.

National Post: Foreign interference inquiry issues report; finds 'tainted' elections and candidates undermined

OTTAWA – Chinese international students may have received “veiled threats” from the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) consulate and been provided with falsified documents to allow them to vote for Liberal candidate Han Dong’s nomination ahead of the 2019 election, according to a new report.

That’s one example of riding-level foreign interference that “tainted” the 2019 and 2021 federal elections but ultimately did not affect the overall results or the integrity of Canada’s electoral system, according to a first report by the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference published Friday.

The Liberals undoubtedly won the last two elections, Hogue said, and the country’s voting system has been strong and secure.

But the commissioner had “no difficulty” concluding that there was foreign interference in certain ridings that likely impacted at least one nomination race and potentially undermined certain candidates viewed unfavourably by the Chinese government.

“Although the election result at a national level was not impacted, and only a few races were potentially impacted at a riding level, I nevertheless conclude that foreign interference impacted the overall election ecosystem in 2019 and 2021,” Hogue wrote.

The Liberals undoubtedly won the last two elections, Hogue said, and the country’s voting system has been strong and secure.

HANSARD: Question to Minister on Hong Kong Pathway processing issues

National Post: 'Long overdue': MPs from all parties call on government to bring in foreign agent registry

NDP MP Jenny Kwan, who has been a target of foreign interference, said the government should bring this legislation to help diaspora groups and politicians like herself.

“It is time, in fact, it is long overdue. What we do know is that the government said they will do it and they said, in fact, last year that they would introduce this legislation,” she said.

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters Tuesday there are many things that need to be addressed, including a foreign agent registry, CSIS reform and the ongoing work of the foreign interference commission.

He said legislation to create the registry would be coming soon.

“This is part of our ongoing effort to strengthen legislation with respect to foreign interference,” he said.

The coalition’s call for a foreign agent registry came on the same day as former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu testified about misinformation that he believed played a role in his defeat in 2021.

Globe & Mail: MPs from all parties urge government to set up foreign agent registry

NDP MP Jenny Kwan, who has been targeted by Beijing for her criticism of China’s human-rights abuses, said the government needs to get the foreign agent registry up and running before the election expected next year.

The proposed registry has been opposed by some within the Chinese-Canadian community. Independent Senator Yuen Pau Woo, appointed to the upper house by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2016, has argued that a foreign-influence registry could do more harm than good and could infringe on Canadians’ Charter rights.

Ms. Kwan accused Mr. Woo of promoting disinformation.

“This registry will protect everyone. It doesn’t matter what community you come from,” Ms. Kwan said. “We want every single Canadian to be protected. Without this registry that means those vulnerable communities could be targeted.”

Marcus Kolga, president of the Central and Eastern European Council in Canada, said we already have laws requiring lobbyists to register when they try to influence the government, so “shouldn’t we demand transparency from those who advance the aims of foreign regimes, specifically those like Russia, China, Iran and others.”

The registry will shine a light in the shadows where former diplomats, politicians, government officials and academics are paid to work on behalf of authoritarian regimes, Mr. Kolga said.