Canada: Legislators Urge Passing Laws Targeting CCP’s Transnational Repression

(Minghui.org) Several Members of the Parliament of Canada said that the government should take steps to end the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) infiltration and interference overseas, and reject the Party’s transnational repression by effectively implementing laws.

Member of Parliament Pushes for Law to Sanction Transnational Repression Aggressors

James Bezan, Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister for National Defence, recently proposed Bill C-219 which will amend both the Special Investors Act and the Magnitsky Act to strengthen sanctions mechanisms for foreign nationals who violate human rights, in particular, targeting foreign officials and agents who conduct transnational repression in Canada.

James Bezan, Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister for National Defence, recently proposed Bill C-219 to strengthen sanctions mechanism on foreign nationals who violate human rights in Canada.

Mr. Bezan said Bill C-219 is unique because it is the first time a law in Canada clearly defines “transnational repression.” “C-219 which will actually strengthen sanction laws in Canada, including going after those that are doing transnational repression here and making sure that Canada is not used as a safe haven for those corrupt foreign officials [supressing] human rights and enriching themselves at the same time in China.”

The law will ban immediate family members of those who are sanctioned as foreign nationals. Everyone on the sanctions list will be publicized and the bill call for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) to provide the Minister with information that is relevant to the making, administering or enforcing of the order or regulation against a foreign national.

Falun Gong practitioners have been submitting a list of CCP officials involved in the persecution to the Canadian government for many years. In 2021, Mr. Bezan once handed in a list with the names of 150 CCP officials on behalf of the Falun Dafa Association. On December 2024, the Canadian government sanctioned eight high ranking CCP officials according to the “Special Economic Measures Act” for reasons including systematic persecution of Ugyhurs, Tibetans, and Falun Gong practitioners.

MP Bezan said that Bill C-219 is also appropriate for sanctioning human rights violators participating in the persecution of Falun Gong. He hopes to establish mechanisms, “to make sure that we have the opportunity provided to Canadians and diaspora communities to appear before parliamentary committees in both the House and the Senate and bring forward the names, with evidence, of individuals that should be sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act or Special Economic Measures Act.”

In 2024, Falun Gong practitioners submitted a list of human rights violators to 45 countries around the world calling for these people to be banned from entering those countries and that their assets be frozen. Bezan said he hopes Bill C-219 is changed to the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Act. “That would ensure that those who have enriched themselves through the illegal behavior, whether it was against Uyghurs or other ethnic and religious minorities within China, including Christians, that they are held to account. And that's true in other countries as well, like Iran, North Korea and Russia.”

Transnational Repression and Foreign Interference Are Serious Problems

Several members of the Senate said that transnational repression is a long-term, severe problem in Canada. Senator Leo Housakos, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, said, “We have to be very cognizant now that there are some forces around the world that are intimidating our Canadian citizens, right here in Canada from afar.”

Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator Leo Housakos expressed his concern regarding the CCP’s transnational repression. He calls on the Canadian government to uphold the country’s benefits and rights of citizens.

Senator Housakos proposed Bill S-237 on February 24, 2022, to establish a foreign agent registry system to respond to foreign interference. A similar bill, C-70, proposed by the Federal government was passed in Parliament in June 2024.

In recent years, according to many international investigations, CCP spies have carried out surveillance, harassment, and even personal assault on dissidents in public overseas, including in North America, Europe, and Australia. On October 2 this year, a Falun Gong practitioner in Toronto was harassed outside the Chinese Consulate. A Chinese person waving a CCP flag damaged information boards displayed by Falun Gong practitioners, and swore at and tried to physically assault practitioners.

Housakos said, “We have so many undemocratic states around the world that are taking advantage of our freedom and our democracy, and they’re coming here, and they’re pursuing and intimidating Canadians including, of course, Canadians of Chinese descent.

“Somehow, the Beijing regime thinks that the Chinese community of Canada is their citizens, it’s their assets—and they’re not. They’re Canadians who are living in this country, working in this country, developing, contributing in this country, and they have rights.”

The senator calls on the Prime Minister and government at all levels to send a clear signal to decisively deal with the problem of the CCP’s United Front and spies. “We also passed some good legislation in the last parliament to deal with foreign interference. There’s in the Criminal Code, various elements of the Criminal Code, so we have all the laws. What we don’t have right now is the political will,” Senator Housakos said.

Costas Menegakis, Conservative Member of Parliament, calls on the Canadian government to face foreign forces’ infiltration and transnational repression in Canada.

During the recent elections, Conservative Member of Parliament Costas Menegakis visited voters, knocked on thousands of doors, and listened to peoples’ concerns. People in the Chinese community told him they were afraid to speak out for fear their speech would incite revenge by the CCP on family members in their native countries. MP Costas responded, “This should not exist in Canada, people should not have this kind of fear.

“The government of Canada needs to focus a lot more on ensuring that we don’t have any foreign interference, which we’ve had, even in Canadian elections, we’ve had foreign interference. So I think it’s very important that we cut all of that out and give people opportunities to live freely here.”

Michael Chong, Conservative Member of Parliament, calls on the Federal government to speed up action to combat foreign interference.

Michael Chong, Conservative Member of Parliament, also calls on the Federal government to speed up action against the transnational repression. “They need to appoint a commissioner. They need to then implement the registry and get it up and running as soon as possible. That will be one of the tools that we need in order to combat some of the foreign interference we’ve seen here in Canada.”

MP Chong has been sanctioned by the CCP for leading a motion to censure the CCP for human rights abuses. His family in Hong Kong has been threatened as a result of his speaking out.

Interfering With Shen Yun Underscores CCP Paranoia

Shen Yun Performing Arts was established in New York in 2006. Founded by Falun Gong practitioners, the mission of this world-class dance company is to revive China’s 5,000 years of divine culture and expose the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong. Presently, eight companies tour the world every year, with hundreds of performances and thousands of audience members attending the shows.

In recent years, the CCP’s attempted suppression of Shen Yun has escalated into “unrestricted warfare.” Specific method targeting Shen Yun include foreign diplomacy and United Front pressure, media and information warfare, legal warfare, and threats and coercion. In the past year, venues hosting Shen Yun shows and the group’s training grounds in upstate New York have received dozens of bomb and death threats.

In Canada, the CCP also sent bomb threats and gun threats to venues where Shen Yun was scheduled to perform. Members of Parliament have condemned the regime’s interference in arts and culture in Canada.

Melissa Lantsman, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party, has spoken out against the CCP’s unrestricted warfare targeting Shen Yun Performing Arts.

Melissa Lantsman, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party, condemned the CCP’s campaign against Shen Yun: “Bomb threats. It’s lawfare. It’s silencing. It is all of the tools of a brutal communist dictatorship that stretches his arms across the world to silence the voices who are standing up for freedom, for democracy, for the rule of law, for everything that is right.”

Referencing the CCP’s threats targeting Shen Yun, Costas Menegakis, MP said, “[The repression] is not fair. … Shen Yun, what I saw, experienced, it was a beautiful, multicultural presentation with melodic music, with amazing dancers, with athletic people. There’s no reason in the world why people can’t go and enjoy it and enjoy the beautiful Chinese culture.”

Mr. Menegakis and his wife saw Shen Yun perform at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto in January 2013. He and his wife enjoyed Shen Yun, and he said it is the best exponent of Chinese traditional culture and should not be a target of political suppression.

James Bezan, MP said, “And to think that the Chinese regime in Beijing thinks that this is a threat to their administration, the way they conduct themselves, just because they're associated with Falun Gong. It just shows how paranoid Xi Jinping and his administration really is.

“We need to make sure that their foreign interference, their transnational repression of Chinese nationals and Hong Kongers and Taiwanese, and Falun Gong practitioners right here in Canada comes to an end.”