EPOCH TIMES COLUMN: Slashed Tires and Tapped Wires: The CCP’s Harassment Tactics in Canada

Imagine this. It’s the middle of the night. You’re trying to sleep, but you just can’t shake the feeling you’re being watched. The other day, you said something critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and now you’re facing the consequences. You’ve received several threats, some subtle, some direct. You toss and turn, but as you finally begin to nod off, the phone rings. Is it an agent of the CCP? Will they come for you, or even for your family?

Many Chinese Canadians have to deal with situations just like this right now. Most shockingly, it’s happening on Canadian soil.

This problem is outlined in the new SecondStreet.org report, “Investigating the Chinese Government’s Harassment of Chinese-Canadians.” By reaching out to cultural and religious groups, and outspoken members of Canada’s Chinese community, we found 26 Chinese Canadians (as well as Canadians from Hong Kong, etc.) who were brave enough to share their stories of being targeted by the CCP.

Their stories speak for themselves, so let’s go over a few.

One common thread throughout the survey is that the CCP seems to favour using threatening phone calls and various types of digital harassment for those it wants to target. To quote:

“Cyber attack on Jan-11 2015, the attack came from China, Hunan province. My [computer system] totally crashed.”

“My WeChat account, which is the only app almost all Chinese use, got shadow-banned when I posted my support for Hong Kong in 2018. If I am in a group, no Chinese citizens, anyone using a Chinese phone number, can see my post.”

In this modern digital age, this is, of course, very concerning, but it doesn’t stop there. Several respondents to our survey said they were targeted in person.

“One Chinese guy took photo of me in Calgary’s China Town … Then I am being tracked, monitored, listened, by different guys … at my house, bus station, any location I parked,” one said.

“A forum on live organ harvesting was held. My car’s tires were punctured four times in a month (the last time was punctured with an inch-wide knife). There are also physical threats and actions,” said another.

One respondent even came home to what they believed was a subtle threat from the CCP.

“One day when I came home, found a big size branch of my house plant was cut off and put on the kitchen counter and a knife was beside it.”

Perhaps the most eerie tactic revealed in this research is the CCP’s willingness to target family members and friends of Chinese Canadians who are still living in China.

“My relatives even asked me to stop calling them because of fear that the police [are] watching them and they will get in trouble. My parents asked me not to talk about anything related to CCP, the leaders, Chinese politics, COVID, vaccines etc lest their pensions [be] stopped.”

“They also harassed my family in China, forced them to sign a pledge that if [I] did something they don’t like overseas, they will take away all their properties.”

Needless to say, none of this is acceptable in a developed, Western democracy like Canada. Historically, the CCP is known for its brutality and willingness to ignore human rights ‒ Mao’s Great Leap Forward was one of the worst genocides in human history. While the modern CCP has made some economic reforms, life and liberty are not a priority for it—think of the Uyghur genocide, the social credit system, and the constant surveillance of citizens.

It’s not surprising that a sinister government like that would want to spread its tendrils across the world and keep its former citizens under its watch. Those who speak out, who hold political or religious views contrary to the CCP’s doctrine, may have a target on their back.

But Canada can take steps to protect its citizens. The federal government appears poised to create a foreign agent registry, and it has potential, but we also need to raise awareness about this problem. The brave Canadians who shared their stories in our survey did their part, likely despite fear of further targeting. Bringing stories like theirs to light can help policymakers see that this is a legitimate problem and inspire them to take further action.

If we don’t want communist-style surveillance and harassment in our country, it’s the least we can do.

Dom Lucyk is the Communications Director for SecondStreet.org, a Canadian think tank.

This column was originally published in The Epoch Times on August 28, 2024.

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter

You can help us continue to research and tell stories about this issue by making a donation or sharing this content with your friends. Be sure to sign up for our updates too!

Prevention – reduce demand in the first place

If Canadians lived healthier lives, we could reduce demand for emergency services, orthopaedic surgeries, primary care and more. 

For instance, if you visit the Canadian Cancer Society’s website, you’ll read that “about four in ten” cancer cases are preventable. The Heart and Stroke Foundation notes that “almost 80 percent of premature heart disease and stroke can be prevented through healthy behaviours.” A similar number of Diabetes cases are also preventable. 

Many joint replacements and visits to ERs and walk-in clinics could also be avoided through healthy living. 

To be sure, not all health problems can be avoided through healthy living – everyday the system treats Canadians with genetic conditions, helps those injured in unavoidable accidents and more.  

But there is an opportunity to reduce pressure on the health care system through Canadians shifting to healthier lifestyles – better diets, more exercise, etc. 

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or see this column. 

Partner with non-profits and for-profit clinics

European countries will partner with anyone who can help patients. 

It doesn’t matter if it’s a non-profit, a government entity or a private clinic. What matters is that patients receive quality treatment, in a timely manner and for a competitive price.  

In Canada, governments often delivery services using government-run hospitals instead of seeing if non-profit or private clinics could deliver the services more effectively. 

When governments have partnered with non-profit and private clinics, the results have often been quite good – Saskatchewan, Ontario and British Columbia are just a few examples of where partnerships have worked well. 

Canada should pursue more of these partnerships to reduce wait times and increase the volume of services provided to patients.  

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or see the links above. 

Make cross border care more accessible

In Canada, citizens pay high taxes each year and we’re promised universal health care services in return. The problem is, wait times are often extremely long in our health system – sometimes patients have to wait years to see a specialist or receive surgery. 

If patients don’t want to wait long periods, they often have to reach into their own pocket and pay for treatment outside the province or country. 

Throughout the European Union, we also find universal health care systems. But a key difference is that EU patients have the right to go to other EU countries, pay for surgery and then be reimbursed by their home government. Reimbursements cover up to what the patient’s home government would have spent to provide the treatment locally. 

If Canada copied this approach, a patient waiting a year to get their hip operation could instead receive treatment next week in one of thousands of surgical clinics throughout the developed world. 

Governments benefit too as the patient is now back on their feet and avoiding complications that sometimes come with long wait times – meaning the government doesn’t have to treat those complications on top of the initial health problem. 

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or this shorter video. 

Legalize access to non-government providers

Canada is the only country in the world that puts up barriers, or outright bans patients from paying for health services locally. 

For instance, a patient in Toronto cannot pay for a hip operation at a private clinic in Toronto. Their only option is to wait for the government to eventually provide treatment or leave the province and pay elsewhere. 

Countries with better-performing universal health care systems do not have such bans. They allow patients a choice – use the public system or pay privately for treatment. Sweden, France, Australia and more – they all allow choice. 

Why? One reason is that allowing choice means some patients will decide to pay privately. This takes pressure off the public system. For instance, in Sweden, 87% of patients use the public system, but 13% purchase private health insurance. 

Ultimately, more choice improves access for patients. 

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or watch this short clip on this topic. 

Shift to funding services for patients, not bureaucracies

In Canada, most hospitals receive a cheque from the government each year and are then asked to do their best to help patients. This approach is known as “block funding”. 

Under this model, a patient walking in the door represents a drain on the hospital’s budget. Over the course of a year, hospital administrators have to make sure the budget stretches out so services are rationed. This is why you might have to wait until next year or the year after for a hip operation, knee operation, etc. 

In better-performing universal health systems, they take the opposite approach – hospitals receive money from the government each time they help a patient. If a hospital completes a knee operation, it might receive, say, $10,000. If it completes a knee operation on another patient, it receives another $10,000. 

This model incentivizes hospitals to help more patients – to help more patients with knee operations, cataract surgery, etc. This approach also incentivizes hospitals to spend money on expenses that help patients (e.g. more doctors, nurses, equipment, etc.) rather than using the money on expenses that don’t help patients (e.g. more admin staff). 

To learn more about this policy option, please watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or see this post by MEI.