Category: China

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Gov’t Recommends More Pathways For Hong Kong Residents To Come

The Canadian Government has posted its take on the report by the Immigration Committee in Parliament. This concerns the topic: “Safe Haven in Canada: Special Immigration and Refugee Measures are Urgently Needed for the People of Hong Kong”.

The responses are not encouraging. Overall, Ottawa seems to favour more people coming to Canada, and less accountability overall. While most of the recommendations are specific to Hong Kong, there’s little interest in legitimate security concerns related to China.

1. Mass LEGAL Immigration In Canada

Despite what many think, LEGAL immigration into Canada is actually a much larger threat than illegal aliens, given the true scale of the replacement that is happening. What was founded as a European (British) colony is becoming unrecognizable due to forced demographic changes. There are also social, economic, environmental and voting changes to consider. See this Canadian series, and the UN programs for more detail. Politicians, the media, and so-called “experts” have no interest in coming clean on this.

CLICK HERE, for UN Genocide Prevention/Punishment Convention.
CLICK HERE, for Barcelona Declaration & Kalergi Plan.
CLICK HERE, for UN Kalergi Plan (population replacement).
CLICK HERE, for UN replacement efforts since 1974.
CLICK HERE, for tracing steps of UN replacement agenda.

Note: If there are errors in calculating the totals, please speak up. Information is of no use to the public if it isn’t accurate.

2. Recommendations From June 2022 Report

Recommendation 1
That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada issue study permits to Hong Kong applicants who have been accepted in a study program at an institution with a COVID-19 readiness plan, regardless of their age.

Recommendation 2
That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada undertake to extend the young professionals Working Holiday work permit for Hong Kong residents to two years and to include persons up to 35 years of age.

Recommendation 3
That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada extend the criteria for eligibility for the three-year open work permit to include all persons with a minimum of 60 credits or its equivalent of post-secondary education regardless of when this education was completed.

Disagreed with, if only because there are already of pathways available. This is a response that will come up over and over again.

Recommendations 4 and 5
#4 That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada adopt an inclusive approach and develop a pathway to permanent residence for former Hong Kong residents based on a broad range of work experience, and requiring minimal language and education levels.
#5 That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada quickly develop and implement a pathway to permanent residence for Hong Kong residents who complete their post-secondary studies in Canada, ensuring that this pathway remains available to all Hong Kong residents studying at designated learning institutions.

Recommendations 6 and 7
#6 That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada create a temporary public policy to grant refugee status to pro-democracy activists within Hong Kong and within third countries, which will enable their resettlement to Canada.
#7 That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada implement a temporary public policy to bring Hong Kong residents at risk to Canada on temporary resident visas regardless of their age.

Recommendation 8
That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada partner with designated non-governmental organizations to identify Hong Kong pro-democracy activists in need of safe haven in Canada on a temporary resident visa, to certify Hong Kong refugees, and to facilitate both classes of Hong Kong residents at risk to travel from Hong Kong to third countries and to Canada, and redevelop a refugee stream similar to the former source country program.

Recommendation 9
That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada acknowledge the urgency of the situation and that, given the exit ban will take effect on 1 August 2021, the Minister immediately respond with an expansion of humanitarian measures to the current immigration and refugee measures to support the people of Hong Kong.

Recommendation 10
That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada issue travel documents to residents of Hong Kong at risk of persecution and exempt them from non-essential pandemic travel restrictions, following all public health guidelines.

Recommendation 11
That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada implement a temporary public policy to create an expedited pathway to permanent residence for Hong Kong residents in Canada or abroad before the exit ban comes into effect on 1 August 2021.

Recommendation 12
That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada promote its family reunification stream to family members of Hong Kong residents looking to come to Canada and create a temporary public policy to also include extended family members of Canadian citizens and of pro-democracy activists living in Canada.

Recommendation 13
That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada develop a temporary public policy to allow former Canadian citizens to return to Canada as permanent residents.

Recommendation 14
That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, in partnership with Public Services and Procurement Canada, and, as needed, other departments and agencies, investigate Canada’s Visa Application Centres in China, especially in regard to personal data leaks due to employee coercion, and that it tables its findings with the Committee.

Recommendation 15
That Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada terminate its contract with VFS Global in China and bring the services back in-house at Canadian diplomatic missions in China.

The Government disagrees with recommendations #14 and #15, which is interesting. There seems to be little urgency to investigate, or replace a private agency (despite concerns) that is processing the visas for Chinese nationals.

Doesn’t seem like there is much interest in protecting Canadian borders or sovereignty.

3. Important Links

(1) https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/CIMM/report-1/
(2) https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/CIMM/report-1/response-8512-441-10
(3) https://www.ourcommons.ca/content/Committee/441/CIMM/GovResponse/RP11842881/441_CIMM_Rpt01_GR/DepartmentOfCitizenshipAndImmigration-e.pdf
(4) Department Of Citizenship And Immigration Hong Kong

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China Trolls Trudeau Over Violent Crackdown On Ottawa Protests

This would be funny if it wasn’t so ridiculous. China is trying to take the high ground when it comes to respecting the rights of its citizens. Trudeau is also being mocked for freezing the accounts of his political opponents, while he pretends to be an advocate for democracy. After all, Trudeau is well known for his love of China’s basic dictatorship.

Okay, there’s more to the article than just that.
As for an update on the so-called national emergency:

There’s something pretty screwy about this: one human rights abuser mocking another. Nevertheless, China has (rightly) called out the hypocrisy of the Trudeau Government pretending to care about freedom abroad, while squashing dissent locally. Surely, most people will remember this clip from November 2013.

In fact, this is a pretty common pattern of politicians in Canada and elsewhere: condemn human rights abuses in other countries, while turning a blind eye to it within their own borders. Talking about Ukraine serves as a great way to divert attention from problems in Canada.

As for the freezing of bank accounts, this was the subject of a hearing. Watching the entire hearing for more context and information.

There was an entertaining piece at 15:38:30, when the $10.5 million settlement to Omar Khadr was brought up. His human rights mattered, although apparently not those of actual Canadians.

At 16:37:30, there was a reference (from a Liberal MP) to a Globe & Mail article stating that donors were not impacted, and the RCMP denied providing a list of names. However, the RCMP does admit that it provided financial institutions with a list of suspected influencers, vehicles and drivers.

The MP brings up Chrystia Freeland’s declaration giving the police more authority to track finances. Also, the financial reporting requirements of crowdfunding sources is designed to be permanent. There is a lot of hair splitting: while the Government itself may not be collecting data, it’s making it easier (and requiring) banks to do it. It’s also much simpler for the RCMP to obtain financial information.

There was a Parliamentary hearing on the issues of suspending insurance, and freezing bank accounts. However, it seems to be pretty subjective as to what would be considering supporting, or how much discretion banks or insurance companies would have.

It’s also unclear how long this will continue in the future.

For all the talk about the protections of the Canadian Charter, it’s a pretty useless document. Section 1 allows for almost unlimited suspensions of rights, as long as it’s declared to be for a public good. Think about it: the Emergencies Act is held in check by the Charter, but Charter rights can be suspended in the name of an emergency. Sounds like circular logic.

While the hearings try to play this down (freezing bank accounts and insurance), it does raise a precedent where the Government could simply ban large gatherings under the pretense that they were unlawful and a threat to society. Declaring people “designated persons” is would be a way to do it. In short, these “limited” measures could be applied more broadly than originally claimed.

An interesting side note: the Canadian Parliament is also holding hearings on gun control, street gangs, and the spread of illicit firearms. A cynic may wonder if there will be an attempt to link Ottawa protesters to gun smuggling over this.

Ottawa has also been holding hearings since February 10th on the topic of crowdfunding, and financing extremism. Far from just declaring a national emergency, this has been in the works for several days, at least. Transcripts and video are available.

At the time of writing: the legislation to invoke a national emergency has passed the House of Commons (with the NDP supporting the Liberals), and is moving to the Senate.

(1) https://twitter.com/ChinaEmbOttawa/
(2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8FuHuUhNZ0
(3) https://twitter.com/ChinaEmbOttawa/status/1496249844960215040
(4) https://twitter.com/ChinaEmbOttawa/status/1496249846495432705
(5) https://twitter.com/ChinaEmbOttawa/status/1496249848017960966
(6) https://archive.is/EM0hL
(7) Wayback Machine
(8) https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/house/projected-business
(9) https://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2?fk=11535231
(10) https://twitter.com/HoCChamber/status/1495709541803114497/
(11) https://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/SECU/StudyActivity?studyActivityId=11456966
(12) https://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/SECU/StudyActivity?studyActivityId=11502643
(13) https://www.canadagazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2022/2022-02-15-x1/pdf/g2-156×1.pdf#page=5
(14) Emergencies Act Protesting Regulations

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Toronto Region Board Of Trade Supports Vaccine Passports, While Receiving And Encouraging Subsidies

The Toronto Region Board of Trade, TRBoT, a group that isn’t accountable to the public, and holds no public office, is openly calling for Ontario to adopt vaccine passports. The idea is that people who refuse should be denied access to what they call “non essential” services. Jan De Silva, President and CEO of the group, pushes hard for it. More on her later.

In fact, if a group wanted to kill off businesses, it’s hard to think of a better way to do this.

TORONTO – The Toronto Region Board of Trade is calling on the Ontario government to introduce a vaccine passport system for non-essential business activity.

Jan De Silva, CEO of the board, says vaccine passports are the only way to safely reopen larger events like business conferences and will help revive tourism.

“Now that we’ve got sufficient vaccine, it’s a way to start resuming a more normal form of day-to-day living.” She said it’s a personal decision to get vaccinated, but accessing major events and indoor dining requires moral responsibility.

The board of trade says it is having discussions with the Ontario premier’s office about introducing a vaccine passport system.

This should alarm people. A board representing large business interests is meeting with Doug Ford’s office to discuss limiting people’s right to free association and free movement, unless they agree to have their privacy limited and take experimental “vaccines” for a virus that likely doesn’t exist.

Remember when trade associations used to call for less government restrictions and regulations? Now, the TRBoT is doing exactly the opposite of that. And far from calling on independence, this group openly promotes the idea of its members scooping up government benefits.

The TRBoT is partially funded by the City of Toronto, the Province of Ontario and the Ministry of Energy. This means that taxpayers are helping keep this operation afloat. Beyond that, there are also dozens of private sponsors who stand to benefit from the policies proposed. Rather than demanding economic freedom, there are demands for corporate welfare.

The Toronto Board of Trade is also pushing agenda of the mass testing people at work. For businesses with less than 150 employees, enough test sticks can be included to get everyone twice a week for 4 weeks, or 8 times each overall. Of course, it’s really taxpayers footing the bill for this, although that point is minimized. What exactly happens to the personal information afterwards anyway?

Granted these tests don’t work anyway, but whatever.

In their FAQ section, the Board of Trade provides links to what kind of government support is available. It’s interesting that this group, which claims to be pro-business, isn’t demanding Ford and Tory end their martial law. Instead, they push a pattern of dependence on their members.

In June, there was an update to the list of government (taxpayer) handouts available. However, there still isn’t any urgency in just letting businesses operate normally.

Jan de Silva is the President and CEO of the TRBoT. However, her other connections lend doubt as to what her motivations are. She’s a Director at Intact Financial Corporation, a large insurance company. She’s a member of APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation), and ABLAC (Asia Business Leaders Council). She’s also a Director at Piment Investments Limited, a firm supporting business expansion in Asia. Also, she’s a non-Executive Director at Blue Umbrella Limited, which sells compliance technology, and is based in Hong Kong. Furthermore, de Silva has chaired the Canada-China Business Council in Beijing. Her profile screams pro-business (in Asia), but she calls on restricting businesses and commerce in Canada, unless certain conditions are met.

De Silva isn’t kidding about lobbying all levels of Government. In fact, the TRBoT has been registered since 2007, and she is personally listed now. What is referred to as “Digital Adaptation – to seek funding for delivery of programs helping small to medium size businesses digitally transform their end-to end operations”, likely is a euphemism that included vaccine passports.

The TRBoT also supports an interesting combination of policies that include: (a) climate change nonsense to kill jobs; (b) “globalized” trade to continue offshoring local industries; and (c) increased immigration to compete for whatever jobs are left.

This is pretty much what Conservative Inc. calls for.

Also, for an organization that claims to be for businesses and a market economy, they don’t seem to mind getting taxpayer subsidies to keep their operations going. This includes receiving CEWS, the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. (See new link).

The TRBoT also supports “smart cities“, which means an almost completely digitally-run community. While this may sound convenient, there may be privacy issues to sort out. The April 14, 2021 webcast included as speakers:

1) Craig Clydesdale, Founder & CEO, Utilities Without Borders
2) Craig McLellan, CEO, ThinkOn
3) Raphael Wong, Director- Strategic Initiatives, ThoughtWire
4) Hugh O’Reilly, Executive Director, Innovate Cities

At least we’ll still have jobs when this is over, right?

Now, there is justification in the fear that jobs are disappearing permanently. TRBoT supports the Scale Up Initiative. It’s goal is to put more of the economy online, and to cut costs. Of course “cutting costs” generally means laying off employees. Keep in mind, TRBoT receives public money, which means taxpayers are subsidizing the costs of chopping the job pool available.

How do you feel about this, residents of Toronto and Ontario? Your tax money is helping fund an organization that encourages OTHER businesses to get subsidies, while pushing for vaccine passports? Yay, for capitalism.

(1) https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/video/ontario-needs-a-vaccine-passport-mandate-by-this-fall-toronto-region-board-of-trade-ceo~2241660
(2) https://www.680news.com/2021/07/13/toronto-board-of-trade-vaccine-passports/
(3) https://www.bot.com/AboutUs/WhoWeAre/Sponsors.aspx
(4) https://supportbusiness.bot.com/screening-kits/
(5) https://supportbusiness.bot.com/faqs/
(6) https://supportbusiness.bot.com/2021/06/07/covid-19-government-and-international-response-june-4-2021/
(7) https://www.bot.com/AboutUs/Governance/AnnualReports.aspx
(8) TRBOT Annual Report 2020 FINAL
(9) TRBOT-Annual-Report-2021
(10) https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaina-tennison/
(11) https://archive.is/SUeuH
(12) https://www.linkedin.com/in/janetdesilva/
(13) https://archive.is/Mbh5s
(14) https://supportbusinessdev.bot.com/webinars/rap-webcast-series-3-smart-cities-solutions-to-upgrade-and-drive-your-business-forward/
(15) https://wtctoronto.com/scale-up/
(16) https://wtctoronto.com/rap/
(17) https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/vwRg?cno=15291&regId=911677
(18) https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/hacc/cews/srch/pub/bscSrch
(19) https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/habs/cews/srch/pub/dsplyBscSrch?request_locale=en

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Bill C-10 And “Conservative” Hypocrisy On Free Speech And Human Rights

So-called “conservatives” in Canada claim that they oppose Bill C-10, which has the potential to seriously erode free speech protections. While this is certainly true, the grandstanding comes across as hollow. This is because of their repeated refusal to protect the rights of Canadians.

Never forget that this party tried (only a decade ago) to make warrantless seizure of internet information legal with Bill C-30. Now, one might argue that they still support free speech, even if not privacy rights. Nope, it gets worse from here.

The top image is Liberal Dominic LeBlanc openly musing about passing laws to combat “misinformation”, which is anything the Government objects to. The bottom is “Conservative” Erin O’Toole demanding emergency measures to limit the freedoms of Canadians locally.

Opposing Bill C-10 under the current circumstances comes across as crass political opportunism. The “right wing” in Canada seems content to let freedom die, so what’s the point here? Perhaps a few more examples for clarity:

The Conservative Party of Canada, and Provincial counterparts, remain silent on basic rights being stripped away. However, O’Toole takes the time to pander over atrocities committed 80 years ago — across the globe. There’s no way to be this tone deaf.

Conservatives are openly condemning China for human rights violations which include forced sterilizations. However, they support pressuring mass vaccination on the Canadian public, even though high levels of sterilization is quite possible.

Jason Kenney panders by celebrating the 1945 victory over Germany in World War 2. However, he’s silent on the increasing human rights abuses at home, like freedom of religion and assembly.

Condemning Tamil genocide comes across as hollow here. After all, Ford is willing to let seniors be trapped in homes, shut down people’s livelihoods, impose stay-at-home orders, deny preventative care, and let the Province collapse.

Lets stop pretending that any of them care about free speech or human rights. Anyone willing to play along with this martial law program is an enemy of the Canadian public.

Lest anyone think that this is a partisan issue, the enemies of free speech must be called out, wherever they are. In Nova Scotia, Iain Rankin the Premier, just banned public gatherings altogether. That’s one way to shut down dissenting views.

While not directly related to free speech, BCPHO Bonnie Henry deserves a dishonourable mention. She allowed indoor wine tasting to continue. Seems like an odd exemption, until you realize she co-owns a winery in Keremeos. This isn’t about public safety, but about protecting her business interests.

It’s also worth pointing out that at these daily “press conferences”, the callers and questions are screened ahead of time. This ensures that no one will be rocking the boat.

Freedom to assemble, gather and protest is being erased, mostly by “Conservative” Premiers. Now, the Trudeau Liberals are about to censor the internet. Does it seem like these people actually oppose each other?

These people all need to go.
None of them are on our side.

(1) https://www.conservative.ca/cpc/stop-bill-c10/
(2) https://nationalpost.com/opinion/vic-toews-draws-line-on-lawful-access-youre-with-us-or-the-child-pornographers
(3) https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid-misinformation-disinformation-law-1.5532325
(4) https://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/03/16/otoole-calls-for-war-footing-mackay-suggests-tax-changes-to-address-covid-19/
(5) https://thenationaltelegraph.com/opinion/erin-otoole-and-conservatives-silence-on-grace-life-is-deafening
(6) https://twitter.com/erinotoole/status/1384154709343162374
(7) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56163220
(8) https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/opinon-i-wanted-the-liberals-to-succeed-on-vaccines-sadly-theyre-now-failing-us
(9) https://www.facebook.com/kenneyjasont/videos/177369714168773/
(10) https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/judge-rules-alberta-pastor-accused-of-violating-health-orders-to-remain-in-jail-1.5938362
(11) https://twitter.com/fordnation/status/1394697084482342914
(12) https://canadians.org/analysis/mike-harris-raking-profits-long-term-care-system-he-helped-create
(13) https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/province-gets-injunction-to-block-planned-anti-mask-rally-1.6026894
(14) https://www.keremeosreview.com/news/similkameen-winery-co-owned-by-dr-bonnie-henry/
(15) https://globalnews.ca/news/7732090/indoor-wine-tastings-bc-covid-restrictions/

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About Michael Chong’s Motion Concerning Genocide In China….

Canada passed a resolution, declaring a genocide in China. It was sponsored by Michael Chong, and Ontario Member of Parliament with the Conservative Party of Canada. While the Motion itself is not the issue, the lack of consistency is.

1. Trafficking, Smuggling, Child Exploitation

Serious issues like smuggling or trafficking are routinely avoided in public discourse. Also important are the links between open borders and human smuggling; between ideology and exploitation; between tolerance and exploitation; between abortion and organ trafficking; or between censorship and complicity. Mainstream media will also never get into the organizations who are pushing these agendas, nor the complicit politicians. These topics don’t exist in isolation, and are interconnected.

2. Text Of Motion Declaring Genocide

MOTION TEXT
That,
.
(a) in the opinion of the House, the People’s Republic of China has engaged in actions consistent with the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 260, commonly known as the “Genocide Convention”, including detention camps and measures intended to prevent births as it pertains to Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims; and
.
(b) given that (i) where possible, it has been the policy of the Government of Canada to act in concert with its allies when it comes to the recognition of a genocide, (ii) there is a bipartisan consensus in the United States where it has been the position of two consecutive administrations that Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims are being subjected to a genocide by the Government of the People’s Republic of China, the House, therefore, recognize that a genocide is currently being carried out by the People’s Republic of China against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims, call upon the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Olympic Games if the Chinese government continues this genocide and call on the government to officially adopt this position.

Michael Chong introduced a Motion to declare what has been going on in China as “genocide”. Have they always thought that the Chinese Government was bad?

3. Michael Chong Then V.S. Now

https://openparliament.ca/debates/2013/4/18/michael-chong-1/
https://openparliament.ca/debates/2021/2/18/michael-chong-1/

It’s interesting how Chong was a huge fan of letting China infiltrate Canada (via FIPA), in 2013/2014. He shrugged off the many justifiable objections to this.

In fact, Conservatives in general have been largely supportive of “free trade” arrangements which outsource Canadian industries. They see nothing wrong in engaging in a rigged game with a country that can undercut Canadian workers and companies.

4. Erin O’Toole Then V.S. Now

https://openparliament.ca/debates/2014/9/22/erin-otoole-1/
https://openparliament.ca/debates/2021/2/17/erin-otoole-7/

Since first getting elected as an MP, O’Toole was a Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade. O’Toole repeatedly hyped up how Canada would benefit from FIPA, and how the concerns were unwarranted. His recent opposition to China appears to be politically motivated, not based on ideology or morality.

5. Federal Cabinet Abstains In Vote

The vote was 266-0, and sold as “unanimous” to the public. However, that’s misleading, considering that the Prime Minister and the Cabinet all abstained from voting. Was this done to at least make working with China possible, while pretending to object?

Considering that everyone else voted to declare this a genocide, a predicted election would be interesting. Discussions around foreign relations could get awkward and strained.

What really happens now, anyway? Other than some words on paper, what will actually be accomplished? Will the Chinese Government suddenly realize the error of its ways? Will these camps suddenly be shut down?

6. Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations

Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention

It was addressed a week ago that Canada, and dozens of other nations signed the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations. This seemed (at least in part), to be a shot a China, given it held 2 Canadians prisoner, and was abusing Muslim minorities on a massive scale.

While this is fine in principle, the elephant in the room is that Canada has been under varying levels of martial law over the last year. Using the false of pretense of a health emergency, politicians of all parties have supported suspending indefinitely the basic rights of citizens.

Going abroad to seek human organs should be criminalized (Bill S-240), but forcing quarantine on healthy people, and medical experimentation locally is very hypocritical.

7. Support Genocide Via Population Replacement

The Canadian Government grandstands about how morally superior it is to China. Even so, successive Administrations have engaged in the practice of population replacement, to eliminate the “old stock”, or at least, dilute their numbers. While it’s certainly not exclusively Chinese, they are in the top 3 source countries, year after year.

Not only are the people replaced, but the culture, history and traditions go as well. This is supported by the United Nations. A “Canadian” identity is substituted for a “multicultural” one. This inevitably leads to balkanization and enclaves, as similar people band together.

In most countries, this would be considered genocide. In Canada, and other Western nations, it’s diversity, and only racists question the agenda.

These symbolic actions against China ring hollow when considered against other things that go on.

8. Canada-China Business Council

There is Ambassador Dominic Barton, featured prominently.
Who else runs the group?

  • Paul Desmarais Sr. — former head of Power Corp (deceased)
  • Andre Desmarais — son-in-law of Jean Chretien
  • Oliver Desmarais — Vice President of Power Corp
  • Sam Boutziouvis — VP (Government Relations) of SNC Lavalin
  • Morgan Elliott — VP (Government Affairs) of Huawei
  • Tim McGuire — Executive VP, China Construction Bank
  • Martin Cauchon — was in Jean Chretien’s Cabinet
  • James Moore — was in Stephen Harper’s Cabinet
  • Stockwell Day — was in Stephen Harper’s Cabinet
  • Scott Brison — was in Justin Trudeau’s Cabinet

Sure, Canadian politicians will grandstand to show how righteous they are with regards to China. But will any of this stop them from doing business with them? That seems highly unlikely. Morals are morals, but money is money.

In fact, take a look at the CCBC website. There isn’t a single mention of genocide by the Chinese listed anywhere.

While there is talk locally of boycotting the 2022 Beijing Olympics, that is pretty minor in the scheme of things. It is a single event.

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Hypocrisy In Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations

Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention

59 countries endorses the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations. This was designed to prevent the rights of foreign nationals from being abused for political reasons. However, there are some issues to address.

1. Declaration Sounds Fine On The Surface


https://twitter.com/JosepBorrellF/status/1361332231378243588

The arbitrary arrest or detention of foreign nationals to compel action or to exercise leverage over a foreign government is contrary to international law, undermines international relations, and has a negative impact on foreign nationals traveling, working and living abroad. Foreign nationals abroad are susceptible to arbitrary arrest and detention or sentencing by governments seeking to compel action from other States. The purpose of this Declaration is to enhance international cooperation and end the practice of arbitrary arrest, detention or sentencing to exercise leverage over foreign governments.

Recognising a pressing need for an international response to the prevalence of these practices, and guided by international law and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations:

1. We reaffirm that arbitrary arrests and detentions are contrary to international human rights law and instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international and regional human rights instruments;

2. We express grave concern about the use of arbitrary arrest or detention by States to exercise leverage over foreign governments, contrary to international law;

3. We are deeply concerned that arbitrary arrest, detention, or sentencing to exercise leverage over foreign governments undermines the development of friendly relations and cooperation between States, international travel, trade and commerce, and the obligation to settle international disputes by peaceful means;

4. We are alarmed by the abuse of State authority, including judicial authority, to arbitrarily arrest, detain or sentence individuals to exercise leverage over foreign governments. We call on States to respect their obligations related to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal;

5. We urge all States to refrain from arbitrary arrest, detention, or sentencing to exercise leverage over foreign governments in the context of State-to-State relations;

6. We reaffirm the fundamental importance of the rule of law, independence of the judiciary, respect for human rights, and respect for the obligation to provide consular access in accordance with international law, including the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and other applicable international instruments;

7. We call upon States to take concrete steps to prevent and put an end to harsh conditions in detention, denial of access to counsel, and torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of individuals arbitrarily arrested, detained or sentenced to exercise leverage over foreign governments. We reaffirm the urgent need to provide these individuals with an effective remedy consistent with international human rights law, and call for their immediate release;

8. We stand in solidarity with States whose nationals* have been arbitrarily arrested, detained or sentenced by other States seeking to exercise leverage over them and acknowledge the need to work collaboratively to address this issue of mutual concern at the international level.

This Declaration remains open to endorsement.
.
(*) Including dual nationals in accordance with endorsing countries’ laws on nationality.

On the surface, there is nothing wrong with any of this. People’s rights shouldn’t be denied or abused in order to make some geopolitical power play. The text of the treaty sounds fine. However, there are some problems that need to be addressed.

Of course, how would such a treaty be enforced? Who and where would it be enforced? Could a country simply withdraw and go about business as usual? How could anyone scrutinize or investigate possible violations?

2. China Is The Elephant In The Room

There seems to be no mention of China, who has been holding 2 Canadians as prisoners for years. This of course, refers to Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. This happened in retaliation for Canada arresting a Huawei executive. Also, what about the mass arrests and persecutions of religious minorities that China has long been accused of committing?

What is really the purpose of this Declaration? Is it to send a message? Is it to appear virtuous? Of course, appearing virtuous is not the same thing as being virtuous. It can’t be for ideological reasons, given the following issue:

3. Arbitrary Detention In So-Called Pandemic

For any of these countries to be taken seriously, what about the human rights abuses that are going on domestically against their own citizens? Is it okay, or less wrong, when it’s done locally? Do any of these sound familiar?

  • Forced quarantine detentions
  • Forced curfews
  • Forced stay-at-home orders
  • Forced closures of businesses
  • Forced closures of religious services
  • Forced masks on adults
  • Forced masks on children
  • Forced nasal rape for bogus tests
  • Peaceful assembly banned
  • Banning free speech as “misinformation”
  • Arrests for violating any of the above

While these 59 countries are crowing about how virtuous they are, many have implemented some or all of the above measures. Of course, this is done in the name of “public safety”. Are they not stripping their own people’s rights in order to implement political agendas? Shouldn’t human rights be applied universally, not just when travelling abroad?

Although it’s still just a proposal, public officials in Canada have openly suggested the idea of passing laws to ban what they call “misinformation”. Of course, this refers to people who will research and expose their lies.