Chinese Canadian Group Petitions for Support of Carney’s China Policy While Pushing National Nanjing Memorial Day
OTTAWA — A petition supporting Prime Minister Mark Carney’s re-engagement with China is circulating in Canada’s Chinese diaspora, launched by an organization that has already submitted a policy proposal to the Prime Minister’s Office on establishing a national Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day.
The Chinese Canadian Proposals Committee, registered in Canada on August 31, 2025—several months after Carney’s spring election—proposed in October 2025 that Parliament establish a Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day “as part of a discussion on public history education,” according to a report posted on Weixin, a Chinese social media platform.
More broadly, the committee’s new “Building Consensus and Supporting Prime Minister Carney’s Promotion of Canada-China Friendly Cooperation” initiative appears to frame Carney’s China policy using language that mirrors Chinese Communist Party diplomatic terminology.
The committee says it works “together with several Chinese and other ethnic community organizations” but does not identify these partner organizations in its public statements.
The Nanjing war atrocities are central to an ongoing diplomatic dispute between China and Japan. The issue is also relevant to Beijing’s recent efforts to have Western powers criticize what it has characterized as Japan’s increasing military posture, and to a statement by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi that Japan would be threatened by Chinese projection of force against Taiwan.
The Weixin report, which posts the petition, says that on January 13, the Prime Minister’s Office responded that Carney had “carefully read the proposal” and forwarded it to the Minister of Culture “for further understanding and consideration.”
The group’s October 2025 proposal appears to extend a campaign already successful in Ontario’s legislature, and to renew recommendations previously advanced by groups from British Columbia that are closely connected with the Vancouver Chinese consulate and have travelled to Ottawa to promote national recognition of the Nanjing history.
As The Bureau has previously reported, the Nanjing Massacre memorial campaign in Toronto has been closely associated with organizations closely tied to Beijing’s United Front Work Department and Chinese diplomats in Canada.
The Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations (CTCCO) and the Chinese Freemasons of Canada (Toronto) jointly sponsored Ontario’s “Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day” initiative, which resulted in Motion 66 passing in the Ontario Legislature in 2017—making Ontario the first jurisdiction in the Western world to officially recognize the day.
The Bureau has previously reported that Michael Ma, the Conservative MP who crossed the floor to strengthen Mark Carney’s Liberal government and attended Carney’s recent mission to Beijing, met with leaders from both CTCCO and the Chinese Freemasons in 2025.
Following Ontario’s success, on November 28, 2018, NDP MP Jenny Kwan presented a petition in the House of Commons reportedly signed by nearly 40,000 Canadians calling for a national Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day. Supporting organizations included the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations of Greater Vancouver.
In December 2018, CTCCO and the Chinese Freemasons unveiled the Nanjing Massacre Victims Monument at Elgin Mills Cemetery in Richmond Hill, north of Toronto. China Daily reported the monument was established “with donations by Chinese communities in Canada,” while Xinhua News Agency reported that more than 1,000 people attended the unveiling ceremony, including Han Tao, then Consul General of China in Toronto.
The monument project was described in Chinese state media as the “first overseas monument” commemorating the Nanjing Massacre.
Photos from Nanjing memorial ceremonies show PRC consular officials appearing alongside Toronto politicians. Among those pictured was Zhao Wei, an alleged undercover Chinese intelligence agent who was later expelled from Canada after The Globe and Mail exposed Zhao’s alleged targeting of Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family in Hong Kong.
Petition Uses ‘Pragmatic’ Framing
The Chinese Canadian Proposals Committee describes itself as “an organization dedicated to public policy research, rational recommendations, and building social consensus” that “aims to safeguard and promote the overall interests of Canada, focusing on economic development, public governance, and multicultural inclusion.”
The committee indicated it will “continue to conduct research and make recommendations on relevant policies and social issues at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels.”
The petition calls on the Chinese community to support what it describes as “pragmatic diplomacy and win-win cooperation.”
