Canada Accused of Helping China Pursue Fugitives for Decades

Canada helped China pursue fugitives for decades in exchange for benefits such as trade cooperation, assistance fighting illegal drugs and negotiation of the release of Canadians detained in China, according to a new documentary.

The report from The Fifth Estate, an investigative program by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, comes at a time of severe strain in the relationship between Canada and China over diplomacy and trade, with the tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats earlier this year and Canadian accusations that China sought to interfere in its politics.

The program from the public broadcaster also prompted criticism from human rights advocates, who accused Canada of ignoring abuses in China.

A former operations officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in the documentary that he had been directed by the government at the highest level to assist and collaborate with Chinese officials who were pursuing a “high-profile fugitive.”

The officer, Calvin Chrustie, had refused to facilitate a meeting for the Chinese officials to interview the fugitive and convince the person to return home to face prosecution, the report said.

It quoted two former Canadian ambassadors to China as saying such assistance was sometimes a result of “quid pro quo” deals.

Global Affairs Canada, the Canadian foreign ministry, didn’t reply to a request for comment when reached by email. Newsweek sent a request for comment to the Chinese embassy in Ottawa via email. RCMP’s media department was also contacted for comment by email.

China has sought fugitives abroad through its Sky Net and Fox Hunt programs.

Launched in 2014, Operation Fox Hunt is a program led by China’s Ministry of Public Security that seeks the return of economic fugitives living outside of China. The later Sky Net has a similar aim, and critics of Beijing have accused it of using the programs to target dissidents and to carry out transnational repression.

China doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Canada, and all cases involving criminals and economic fugitives are pursued through Ottawa’s immigration and refugee system. But following these cases would have required political approval from Ottawa, the report said.

Between 2008 and 2020, about 33 Chinese nationals were removed from Canada because of allegations of “serious criminality” in another country, according to the Canadian Border Services Agency.

“We turned a blind eye to the lack of rule of law in China and turned a blind eye to the fact that we should be way more skeptical about the evidence coming from China. And as time went on, we turned a blind eye to the fact that Chinese agents were acting in Canada,” Lorne Waldman, a veteran Toronto immigration lawyer, told CBC News.

China has been accused of pursuing fugitives in other countries, including the United States.

An expert told Newsweek that Canada might have cooperated with China in return for market access.

“What is unclear in the case of China is why they (Canada) cooperated in these operations, knowing that citizens returning to China would be executed or live an imprisoned life that was inhumane by Canadian standards. It appears successive leaders made a choice to cooperate in reward for market access,” Stephen Nagy, senior fellow at Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute and a professor at International Christian University in Tokyo, told Newsweek.

Nagy said Canada is rethinking its relations with China following claims Beijing has engaged in hostage diplomacy and interfered in Canadian politics.

In December 2018, two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, were arrested in China after the detention of cell phone giant Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver in the same month. Kovrig and Spavor were released in 2021 after the United States dropped an extradition request for Meng.

On Tuesday, Ottawa said a China-linked disinformation campaign called “spamouflage” targeted Canada’s politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and opposition leader Pierre Poilievre.

The campaign used bots and highjacked social media accounts to post messages in English and French on Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, to make false criminal and ethical violation accusations against Canadian politicians from across the political spectrum.

China’s embassy in Canada denied that Beijing had ever interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, according to Reuters. It quoted an embassy statement saying the accusations were a “blatant smear campaign” and accused Canada of being a “downright liar and disseminator of false information”.