Chinese in Canada at Risk of Surveillance and Detention due to "Internet Battlefield": CSIS
"Canadians who seek election in ridings with large mainland Chinese populations are likely well aware of the risks of publicly associating with people who oppose the CCP": CSIS on Repression Strategy
By Stanley Tromp
A report from November 2022 by Canadian Security Intelligence Service sheds more light on the extraordinary scale, scope, and drivers of China’s state intelligence efforts against two million citizens of Chinese origin, some of whom potentially face detention “overseas” for their internet commentary.
The heavily redacted CSIS Intelligence Branch Assessment—titled “PRC Transnational Repression Poses Evolving Threat to Chinese-Canadians”—was obtained by The Bureau through an Access to Information request.
One of the report’s most striking claims is that Beijing’s repression efforts include “extraterritorial enforcement”—the assertion that Chinese laws can supersede those of foreign governments. “By detaining or warning overseas PRC nationals who have posted anti-CCP comments online, the PRC government effectively conveys that its laws apply extraterritorially, overriding national laws,” the report states.
While CSIS does not provide further details verifying such cases in Canada, its assessment aligns with a November 2022 statement from MP Michael Chong, who raised alarms about U.S. indictments exposing PRC agents operating on North American soil. Chong cited allegations that PRC agents in the U.S. pressured individuals to visit Toronto to conduct more intensive interrogations.
“Beijing’s agents operating in the U.S. have pressured residents to travel to Toronto for heightened interrogation—suggesting that the PRC views Canada as a safer environment for such operations,” Chong wrote, noting that three Chinese covert police stations had been identified in Toronto.
It emerged later—through media reports—that Chong himself, and his family in Hong Kong, were targeted in 2021 by China’s secret police via a Toronto Consulate official spying under diplomatic cover.