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Bounty as coercion: As incumbent MP & former police officer, Paul Chiang should've known better
Apr 3, 2025
As an incumbent Member of Parliament and a former police officer, Paul Chiang should have known better. This is a situation that's the Canadian government has issued statements on GAC, has come out and said that the arrest warrant and bounties targeting Canadians is unacceptable. They have condemned it.... I don't think it goes too far for Canadians to expect that an incumbent MP takes that seriously and acts accordingly. For it to be called a lapse in judgment or a joke, I think, downplays the situation a little bit. This is a topic that he should have some expertise on, especially as a parliamentary secretary to immigration in the last government where he was briefed on why there is a Lifeboat scheme for Hongkongers leaving the territory because of human rights situations.
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0:00
thank you Met last but not least I'd
0:02
like to invite Katherine Lung from um
0:04
from Hong Kong Watch to take this stage
0:09
thank you Kyle transnational repression
0:12
takes many forms it could be anything
0:14
from harassing comments online to
0:16
threatening emails to threats on one's
0:18
life or even arrest warrants and
0:20
bounties and it can be perpetrated by
0:23
individual actors or in foreign
0:24
government what they have in common
0:26
however is that these actions are done
0:28
to silence an individual for the benefit
0:30
of a foreign state this weekend we saw
0:33
an example of transnational repression
0:35
something that is so unthinkable for an
0:36
incumbent MP to take part in that
0:39
brought into question whether elected
0:40
officials think take seriously the the
0:43
threat of transnational repression and
0:44
foreign interference to be clear this is
0:47
a parliamentarian suggesting to the
0:49
public at a community event that a
0:51
political opponent should be taken into
0:53
custody at the Chinese consulate and
0:55
handed over to a foreign regime that has
0:57
shown no mercy for its opposition this
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cannot stand in Canada to effectively
1:02
counter foreign interference and
1:03
transnational repression we need to take
1:05
a zero tolerance approach the government
1:08
of Canada needs to show in no uncertain
1:10
terms that any acts of foreign
1:12
interference whether it be electoral or
1:14
seeking to harm an individual will be
1:16
prosecuted to the fullest extent of the
1:18
law we will detect it intercept it and
1:21
perpetrators will be brought to justice
1:23
regardless of political affiliations I
1:25
am sure the news out of this weekend
1:27
shocked Canadians the issue of foreign
1:29
interference and transnational
1:30
repression cannot be one that divides
1:32
Canadians along partisan lines this is
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an issue not only of human rights but of
1:37
national security and sovereignty if we
1:40
cannot protect Canadians on Canadian
1:42
soil from foreign actors seeking to
1:44
intimidate silence or harm we do not
1:46
exercise any meaningful sovereignty over
1:48
our territory the impacts go far beyond
1:51
just the individuals that are targeted
1:53
when a community sees this what happens
1:55
are two things first they see that there
1:57
are consequences to speaking out that
1:59
even though they are in a country where
2:00
freedom of expression is legally
2:02
protected an adversarial foreign state
2:05
can seek to harm them for their speech
2:08
second when they see that their
2:09
government is not standing behind the
2:11
targeted individual it brings into
2:13
question whether if they themselves are
2:15
targeted whether they can rely on their
2:18
elected officials to do the right thing
2:20
and protect not only them but our
2:22
Canadian values of freedom democracy and
2:24
human rights there is a lot of work to
2:27
be done on countering transnational
2:28
repression and uh this this report comes
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at a very timely moment thank you
2:37
i would just like to conclude the press
2:39
conference by stating that the report is
2:41
available on our website the Montreal
2:43
Institute for Global Security
2:45
migsinstitute.org uh you can find it
2:46
there i ask you to uh to have a look and
2:49
to share it on social media um and this
2:52
is a crucial human rights issue it's
2:54
about the
2:55
rights of Canadians being impeded uh by
3:00
foreign states so we have to stand up
3:01
together a stand on guard for the
3:03
together in this troubling part of
3:05
history but if there are any questions
3:07
from journalists uh following us online
3:09
we'd be more than happy to answer any
3:11
questions
3:12
thank you we'll now start the question
3:14
period as a reminder one question one
3:16
follow-up we'll start online with our
3:18
Benson go ahead
3:24
hi there that's Ben Hill Times um I
3:26
don't know how much uh there's been a
3:29
bit of an update on the Paul Chang um
3:34
story today from Carney saying he uh
3:37
Chang still has his confidence uh called
3:40
it a lapse in judgment um that he's made
3:43
his apologies but uh called it a
3:45
teachable moment so I sort of just
3:47
wanted to get your response to that um
3:49
with Carne saying stands uh behind him
3:53
and then maybe just touch on there was
3:55
some saying that this gang wasn't really
3:57
genuinely suggesting this or it may have
3:59
been a joke so I just if you can respond
4:02
to those sort of defenses as well i
4:05
think yeah go ahead i think it'd be
4:08
important uh for us to hear from our two
4:11
colleagues here who are from diaspora
4:13
communities from the weaguer community
4:15
and the the Hong Kong community yeah
4:18
sorry i should have clarified that was
4:19
Yeah that was what I was so I'd like to
4:20
maybe if you'd like to say
4:24
something from Hong Kong sure i would
4:27
first like to say that as an incumbent
4:29
member of parliament and a former police
4:31
officer Paul Chen should have known
4:33
better um this is this is a situation
4:36
that the Canadian government has um
4:38
issued statements on gak has come out
4:40
and said that uh the the arrest warrants
4:42
and bounties um ac um targeting
4:46
Canadians is unacceptable they have
4:48
condemned it um and so it would be I
4:52
don't think it goes too far for
4:53
Canadians to expect that an incumbent MP
4:56
takes that seriously and acts
4:57
accordingly um for it to be called a a
5:00
lapse in judgment or a joke I think
5:03
um downplays the situation a little bit
5:06
this is a topic that he should have some
5:08
expertise on especially as a
5:10
parliamentary secretary to immigration
5:12
um in the last government uh where he
5:15
was he was briefed on on why there is a
5:18
lifeboat scheme for Hong Kongers leaving
5:20
uh the territory because of human rights
5:22
situations so I think um I expected more
5:25
from Paul Chang
5:29
uh from uh Uger Canadians perspective as
5:32
long as Paul Chang is in the parliament
5:35
and that is a huge shadow
5:38
uh for uger Canadians to feel
5:41
confident and that person as a former
5:45
police officer and the current MP whose
5:47
primary responsibility is to protect
5:50
Canadian citizens and their rights
5:53
and what we seen is totally opposite and
5:56
this is unacceptable and not only for
5:58
the asper communities it should be
6:01
unacceptable for liberal party as well
6:05
and uh as I mentioned one of the uh
6:08
recommendation from the justice hogs
6:11
report is to have a proper
6:15
mechanism to monitor and scrutiny for
6:18
the nomination process and the Paul
6:21
Chan's nomination shows that that
6:23
process is not handled properly or
6:26
liberal party did not take uh the
6:29
recommendation of justice hogs report
6:31
seriously and we cannot afford to
6:34
continue like this and he should be
6:36
either he should resign or Liberal Party
6:39
should handle this uh situation as soon
6:42
as possible
6:47
um and the Liberals are um the calls are
6:51
mounting for them to drop a Liberal
6:52
candidate um who said um that the um
6:58
like a conservative candidate who
7:01
um the idea of he said he was joking and
7:05
that um the conservative or candidate
7:07
should be turned into um the Chinese
7:09
consulate he's a Hong Kong um dissident
7:12
um what do you make of this controversy
7:14
and and do you consider it for example
7:16
transnational repression
7:18
so we're aware of the comments made and
7:20
I would say the comments don't fall
7:21
under the mandate of the panel the
7:23
bounty against the other person is an
7:26
example of transnational repression uh
7:29
the panel and site are monitoring as it
7:31
relates to the to the bounty uh I will
7:34
note that the Minister of Foreign
7:35
Affairs in December 2024 issued a
7:38
statement uh deploring Hong Kong's
7:40
decision to um uh to place bounties on
7:44
the heads of democratic uh activists
7:46
including two Canadians and Gak remains
7:49
in touch with the two Canadians to
7:50
provide them updates and offer support
7:55
we'll go on to Christopher Nardy from
7:57
the National Post so I just want to kind
8:00
of piggyback on that um have you seen
8:03
efforts or have you detected efforts
8:05
from the PRC or their networks to um try
8:10
to coersse the two individuals who were
8:12
had bounties put on them or even um
8:16
online campaigns anything to try to
8:18
either discredit them or bring them back
8:20
to the PRC maybe I'll look to Vanessa
8:27
what we saw was the content that was the
8:31
the the news of the bounty was sort of
8:34
re-uped um but uh we're just watching
8:37
the open uh the open space uh for
8:42
anything for anything related to that so
8:45
that alone I think um is um is a form of
8:49
of of coercion spreading again um the
8:52
information about uh about the bounty um
8:55
is is precisely how malign uh foreign
8:59
states uh seek to uh silence harass and
9:02
coers just to be clear on on that point
9:05
um are you seeing an effort to mus to
9:08
reup that information coming from what
9:10
appears to be a state sponsored network
9:13
i just want to clarify i'll ask you let
9:15
me get back to you with the answer on
9:17
that exactly where we're seeing it from
9:19
um and then otherwise um so very early
9:22
Miss Kemp anyone can answer this you
9:24
talked about growing threats against
9:26
politicians um but I wanted to kind of
9:29
circumscribe that in terms of time have
9:31
you seen that since the beginning of the
9:33
election and of maybe all the phenomenon
9:36
that you've mentioned intensication of
9:38
threats you've mentioned disinformation
9:40
AI manipulation etc etc um what have you
9:43
seen in particular maybe possibly
9:45
sharpen or increase since I'm forgetting
9:48
the date but day one of the election i
9:51
don't know that we have seen things
9:52
particularly sharpen since day one of
9:54
the election i do think we have seen
9:56
certainly over time the last several
9:58
months the last year i mean
10:00
disinformation remains on the rise
10:02
continually in all aspects of society uh
10:05
and I think we have seen over the last
10:07
couple of years a rise in threats and
10:09
attempts at intimidation of public
10:11
figures again across the political
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spectrum uh maybe I'll turn to Greg at
10:16
the RCMP if the RCP has anything they'd
10:18
like to add to that
10:21
no just uh to say that the RCMP is uh
10:24
seized with the Oh can you hear me i can
10:28
yeah so the the RCMP is is very well
10:31
seized with the the issue of threats to
10:35
um candidates uh to be clear the RCMP's
10:39
protective mandate extends to the prime
10:42
minister as well as the leaders of um uh
10:46
parties with standing in parliament and
10:49
the any determination for um the the
10:53
extension of
10:56
uh protective services is at the the
10:59
discretion of uh the Minister the
11:03
Minister of Public Safety that needs to
11:06
um um uh designate an individual for
11:10
such protection that said um there is a
11:14
new program for candidate security that
11:17
is being led by PCO and that is meant to
11:20
address issues such as this um because
11:25
uh the RCMP unfortunately cannot be
11:28
everywhere
11:29
uh all at once thank you
11:33
yeah just I mean just to follow up a bit
11:36
i mean you have seen over the
11:39
past few years issues of intimidation of
11:43
politicians it's happened on Parliament
11:45
Hill it's happened in writings and if
11:48
you look more generally around the world
11:50
we've you've seen pure countries where
11:52
issues of tendencies towards violence
11:55
have been seen so it's with that in mind
11:57
that the efforts of the RCMP are applied
12:00
to as uh Greg mentioned to um ministers
12:05
and leaders of officially recognized
12:08
parties and the candidate candidate
12:10
security program is an additional layer
12:12
of support that's being provided to
12:14
candidates of all parties
12:18
david Thuren from the CBC
12:23
good morning folks
12:25
i I guess I just wanted to come back to
12:27
the issue involving Paul Chang um Miss
12:30
Kempton you said that it's not in your
12:32
purview um but is site at least
12:35
concerned by those comments
12:39
um
12:41
and what do candidates do who who who
12:44
face similar threats whether whether
12:47
serious or you know jokingly what should
12:49
candidates do uh if they're in a similar
12:52
situation where they're being threatened
12:54
in a similar way so are you concerned at
12:55
the very least and what should
12:56
candidates do if they're in that sim
12:58
similar situation so I'd say site is
13:00
concerned about the bounty m placed by
13:02
Hong Kong on Mr tay um we are aware of
13:06
the comments as I said in terms of what
13:08
candidates should do uh a they should
13:10
contact police of local jurisdiction in
13:12
the immediate uh they are also able to
13:15
uh contact site uh and um the RCMP if
13:19
they have other concerns um and we will
13:22
look at it from there vanessa I don't
13:23
know if there's anything you wanted to
13:24
add to that i think that's very well
13:25
said thank you
13:28
and the candidate who received that
13:30
threat uh Joe Tay says he fears he fears
13:34
for his safety is the RCMP or any other
13:38
agency re reaching out to contact him
13:42
greg would you like to respond to that
13:46
i'd have to get get back to you
13:48
specifically on whether the RCMP has
13:50
reached out to Mr tay um but to
13:53
reiterate what what um Johann said um
13:57
the if candidates feel under threat uh
14:01
either immediate or not I would
14:04
encourage them to reach out to their
14:05
police
14:06
jurisdiction and as well as uh the
14:09
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
14:11
so that we can have a uh combined
14:15
response to the the the real and
14:18
perceived threats that they are uh they
14:20
are feeling
14:25
uh Jim Bronzkll from the Canadian Press
14:28
i'm wondering if you could tell us a
14:30
little bit more about the candidate
14:31
security program uh when it was uh
14:33
introduced and what it entails
14:38
u happy to the candidate security
14:40
program is a new program that's been
14:42
developed uh this year to help uh
14:45
support candidates of all parties both
14:48
recognized and not recognized if they
14:50
feel a threat to their safety um it's
14:53
intended to provide support for such
14:55
things like campaign events and also
14:59
should they feel uh a personal threat it
15:02
should be noted that it's part of a
15:04
layered approach i mean Craig quite
15:06
correctly noted that if a candidate
15:09
feels um their safety is threatened
15:12
reaching out to the police of local
15:13
jurisdiction should be part of what they
15:16
do in addition to that Elections Canada
15:19
provides support for things like
15:21
security alarms and constituency offices
15:24
and so what this does is it's just an
15:27
extra layer of support in addition to as
15:30
Greg mentioned before existing supports
15:33
directly for you know party leaders and
15:36
ministers
15:38
and maybe maybe if I can interject as
15:41
well too beyond the sort of physical
15:42
nature uh that of the threat that
15:44
candidates may experience we also
15:47
recognize that there can be an online
15:49
component to this as well so it's one of
15:51
the reasons uh that within the cyber
15:53
center at CSC we have a hotline
15:56
available uh that candidates can contact
15:59
uh 24/7 should they u experience um any
16:03
uh cyber threats online
16:07
uh the prime minister indicated today he
16:09
had recently received a national
16:11
security briefing in the last day or so
16:13
which is perhaps not surprising i'm
16:14
wondering uh if uh to what extent you
16:17
can talk about this that the uh or
16:19
whether you it's within your ambit
16:21
whether the opposition leaders uh have
16:24
been receiving similar briefings during
16:27
the electoral period
16:31
well I can speak to a portion of it
16:33
which is that last week um political
16:37
parties received a briefing a security
16:39
briefing of the threats at the
16:42
classified level these are the cleared
16:44
party representatives of each of the of
16:46
the parties so that briefing took place
16:49
late last
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week okay um I'm looking here at Zoom i
16:56
don't see any raised hands another
16:58
chance if anyone has a
17:03
question
17:11
okay okay so PAC go ahead
17:23
hi can you hear me okay yep
17:28
hi uh Mr k said that he's been in touch
17:30
with the RCMP um but do we know if he's
17:33
taken advantage of the uh this candidate
17:37
security program is that something that
17:39
maybe um uh Lori you can see too
17:51
did you have a follow-up
17:56
yeah can you hear me okay
17:59
yep
18:01
yeah my question was whether or not Mr
18:04
okay uh he says that he's been in touch
18:06
with the RCMPs but do we know whether
18:09
he's taking advantage of the candidate
18:11
security program i think this might be a
18:14
question for Miss Kemp thank you for the
18:16
question no I am not aware uh I don't
18:19
know if he has taken advantage of the
18:20
program uh we'll have to come back to
18:22
you
18:26
okay i don't see any other questions oh
18:28
sorry go ahead do you have a followup
18:29
Pak
18:31
yeah thanks um just can you clarify is
18:34
this the candidate security program is
18:36
that under PCO or is that the one that's
18:39
being offered by elections Canada or am
18:41
I crossing my wire here it's uh it is
18:44
the candidate security program that we
18:46
just spoke about is uh under the privy
18:48
council office elections Canada also has
18:51
um a program for candidate security as
18:54
well i would now like to pass the floor
18:56
to my colleague Lissa Galadza who will
18:58
provide further information on digital
19:00
transnational repression yeli
19:04
thank you Laurian my name is Lissa
19:06
Galadza and I am the director general
19:07
for cyber critical technology and
19:10
democratic resilience at Global Affairs
19:12
Canada one of my responsibilities is
19:15
overseeing rapid response mechanism
19:17
Canada or RRM Canada which is global
19:20
affairs uh representative on the
19:23
security and intelligence threat to
19:25
elections task force rrm Canada was
19:29
established in 2018 as part of Canada's
19:32
G7 presidency at the time to counter
19:35
foreign threats to democracies this
19:38
includes digital transnational
19:39
depression and I'll be talking to you
19:40
about that today the RM's data analysts
19:44
use open-source data and research
19:46
methods to monitor the global digital
19:49
information ecosystem for foreign backed
19:52
information operations
19:55
let me first describe transnational
19:56
repression or TNR before moving on to
19:59
its digital form as Laurian said TNR is
20:02
a form of foreign interference in which
20:05
authoritarian foreign governments
20:08
attempt to extend their own domestic
20:10
repression beyond their borders to
20:13
intimidate coers harass harm and
20:16
ultimately silence critics or those
20:19
deemed a threat to their rule it can
20:22
take place in a variety of ways these
20:25
authoritarian regimes target members of
20:27
diaspora and exile communities
20:29
particularly religious and ethnic
20:31
minorities human rights defenders
20:33
political dissident activists students
20:36
scholars and
20:38
journalists what is important here is
20:41
that the actors behind transnational
20:43
repression are foreign governments we
20:46
have seen this malign activity from a
20:48
number of foreign states and we have
20:50
seen it around the globe and here in
20:53
Canada now let me talk about how
20:55
authoritarian foreign states perpetuate
20:57
transnational repressions through the
21:00
digital space this kind of repression
21:02
can take the form of online harassment
21:04
and smear campaigns largely through
21:07
social media it could also include
21:10
doxing where the private and
21:12
identifiable information of targeted
21:15
individuals is put into the public
21:17
sphere without their consent the intent
21:19
is to fuel harassment and physical
21:22
violence as with more traditional or
21:25
physical methods digital forms of
21:28
transnational repression are also used
21:30
to induce compliance to silence or
21:33
discredit individuals or to retaliate
21:37
against disscent and this form of
21:39
repression is perpetrated through
21:42
technology digital transnational
21:44
repression is not new to us in Canada
21:46
the team at RM Canada detected this kind
21:48
of activity in recent years and we've
21:50
seen it increasing in 2023 we informed
21:54
the public about a targeted online
21:56
information operation known as
21:58
spamoflage spamoflage is a kind of
22:01
spamming that hides nefarious content
22:04
among everyday
22:06
content in uh to to camouflage a hostile
22:09
intent here's how it works hostile
22:13
actors flood the information ecosystem
22:15
with a large volume of content such as
22:18
videos memes or text that discredit or
22:22
embarrass the targeted individuals this
22:24
content is then amplified
22:26
inauthentically by hijacked or faked
22:29
accounts also known as bots which make
22:32
this content more visible on social
22:34
media platforms with the hopes that it
22:36
will be further shared and engaged with
22:40
the operation in 2023 leveraged social
22:42
media accounts of for dozens of members
22:45
of parliament from across the political
22:47
spectrum and across Canada to make the
22:49
content
22:50
visible spam comments claimed that a
22:53
critic of the Chinese Communist Party in
22:55
Canada had accused the various members
22:57
of parliament of criminal and ethical
22:59
violations
23:01
rrm Canada assessed that the likely goal
23:03
of this operation was at least in part
23:06
to silence criticism of the Chinese
23:08
Communist Party to incentivize members
23:10
of parliament to distance themselves
23:12
from the critic discrediting and
23:15
discouraging wider online communities
23:18
from engaging with them
23:21
rrm Canada also informed the public
23:25
earlier this month of a new spamlage
23:28
operation which has targeted several
23:30
individuals in Canada this new operation
23:33
employs various tactics to intimidate
23:35
belittle and harass individuals in
23:37
Canada who are critical of the People's
23:39
Republic of China it includes the use of
23:42
generative AI to doctor existing online
23:45
content and then amplify it as a way to
23:48
dox the targeted individuals
23:51
this is also the first known instance
23:52
where the RRM detected spamlage using
23:55
sexually explicit deep fake photos to
23:58
target an individual in Canada when we
24:01
see this activity we take several steps
24:03
to try and stop it first off we work
24:06
with the National Counter foreign
24:08
interference coordinator at Public
24:09
Safety Canada to alert targeted
24:11
individuals so that they can take the
24:14
steps necessary to protect themselves
24:16
the coordinator also proactively engages
24:18
with communities and other affected
24:20
individuals who at the who are at risk
24:22
of digital
24:23
TNR we also alert social media platforms
24:26
where potentially harmful content about
24:28
this individual is proliferating and
24:30
where it may violate their terms and
24:32
conditions decisions about what to do
24:34
with this content is up to these
24:36
individual social media platforms
24:40
we conduct diplomatic demarces to share
24:42
relevant information and request that
24:44
foreign states stopped their malign
24:46
activity we may also engage other site
24:49
members as needed including law
24:51
enforcement to take appropriate action
24:54
and of course we continue to monitor
24:56
incidents to understand how they are
24:57
evolving in real time so that we can
25:00
evolve our response
25:02
there are also steps that Canadians who
25:04
feel they are vulnerable to digital TNR
25:06
can take to protect themselves first
25:10
they can do things to protect themselves
25:12
online use strong and unique passwords
25:15
carefully examine emails or text
25:18
messages and think twice between before
25:20
opening an attachment or clicking on a
25:22
link avoid using public Wi-Fi networks
25:26
or Bluetooth and avoid oversharing
25:29
personal information online
25:31
second anyone in Canada who feels they
25:34
are being targeted can go to police or
25:37
to the or to ceus say they believe the
25:40
activity against them is transnational
25:42
repression and share the information
25:45
they have and of course if someone is in
25:47
immediate danger they should call
25:49
911 rrm Canada is committed to
25:52
protecting the integrity of these
25:54
elections for Canadians and to keeping
25:56
Canadians informed
#Human Rights & Liberties
#Public Policy