Calls grow for Ottawa to support BC journalist on Hong Kong ‘wanted’ list

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Demand is growing for Ottawa to support a Richmond man who was recently placed on a “wanted” list by the Hong Kong government.

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Victor Ho, former editor-in-chief of the Sing Tao Daily newspaper, was charged by the Hong Kong government security bureau earlier this month with subverting state power after participating in a press conference in Toronto proposing a parliament. in exile in Hong Kong. that would run counter to Beijing’s crackdown on political freedoms.

Two parliamentarians and a group of concerned citizens recently called on the prime minister and the federal foreign minister to take note of Ho’s case and publicly denounce the Hong Kong government.

Ho said Tuesday that no federal officials had contacted him.

Global Affairs Canada directed Postmedia inquiries on Tuesday to Public Safety Canada, saying it was better suited to respond. No response was received before the deadline.

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“If I were the government and I know there are protests, I should take the appropriate steps to proactively protect people like Victor,” said Bill Chu, spokesman for the Sino-Canadian Concern Group on Chinese Communist Party Human Rights Violations. .

Chu and other proponents suggest Canadians facing threats and intimidation from foreign countries should have a safe, designated hotline that they can call.

“In a case like this, the RCMP is not equipped to receive calls like this and respond,” Chu said. “There should be some place where the public can voice their concerns to someone.”

Ho said he believes Canadian officials, as a first step, could contact Hong Kong authorities and request an indictment against a specific citizen wanted by a foreign government.

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Ho’s plight is the first public indication that the long arm of Hong Kong’s national security law has reached Canada, said Tung Chan, a veteran activist and retired honorary naval officer.

Observers like Chan have been predicting such allegations are inevitable ever since Hong Kong implemented a new national security law in June 2020. The move prompted Ottawa to suspend a decades-old extradition deal that allows authorities here to send people to Hong Kong. Kong for certain crimes.

“I always believed that the way the law is written is just to make sure that people abroad, people who don’t live in Hong Kong or China, can be subject to this kind of, I have to choose my words carefully. , this kind of treatment,” Chan said.

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It means Canadian officials must find a way to respond beyond simply suspending the extradition deal, he said.

“I think that for us who live in a democratic country, a law-abiding country, where the law is the government of the land, we should continue to do what we feel is right and enjoy the freedoms that the constitution and law give us. law of our country. app. Canadians… shouldn’t be dictated by the actions of a foreign country when they do things that are totally legal. Otherwise, we will give up all of our essential Canadian features. This should not be tolerated.”

Chan isn’t sure what government officials and law enforcement can do, but he thinks lawmakers need to take this kind of treatment of Canadian citizens seriously and make sure that Canadians who speak and do things that are can continue to enjoy that freedom.

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Earlier, University of British Columbia political science professor Yves Tiberghien said: “It’s up to Canada to make sure (Ho) isn’t harassed… in any way.”

In its open letter to Ottawa, the Chinese-Canadian Concern Group on Human Rights Violations of the Chinese Communist Party said that Ho’s inclusion on a wanted list by the Hong Kong government was a “serious violation of democratic rights here in Canada, as others who follow Victor may similarly face persecution from the government of Hong Kong and China for speech and legal action in Canada.”

But he said his letter was not a validation of “any activity or ideology” related to the content of Ho’s proposal for a Hong Kong “parliament in exile.”

— with Douglas Quan file

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