Rights Groups Call on Ottawa to Stand Up to Beijings Transnational Repression as Foreign Minister Visits

Human rights groups and members of the diaspora gathered in Ottawa as Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi arrived on May 28 for a three-day visit at the invitation of Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand.Dean Baxendale, CEO of the China Democracy Fund and publisher of Optimum Public International, said he came to Ottawa from Toronto to “send a message to Minister Wang who has come here to Canada to try to solidify new business deals and arrangements with the Canadian government, mostly on the backs of the Falun Dafa followers, Uyghur slave labour, Tibetans.”“The Chinese Communist Party has oppressed all people in China, and it’s time that our government actually stands up for human rights for those people in China, rather than standing up for the profits of Canadian corporations and selling out individuals for profit,” Baxendale told NTD, a sister media of The Epoch Times.David Matas, a Winnipeg-based human rights lawyer, said the Canadian government should more actively declare any Chinese diplomats involved in transnational repression persona non grata.Falun Dafa practitioners call for China to end forced organ harvesting as Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi visits Ottawa, on May 28, 2026. The Epoch TimesMatas was in Ottawa to take part in a press conference earlier in the day on Parliament Hill with Falun Dafa practitioners, who requested that Anand use the meeting to request China end its transnational repression, as well as its interference with Shen Yun in Canada.Referring to an expose in Global News that Chinese Consulate officials met with City of Vancouver staff to pressure the city to cancel Shen Yun at the city-owned Queen Elizabeth Theatre, as well as other cancellations of the shows due to Chinese pressure, Matas said Chinese officials are going outside of accepted diplomatic protocol.“The Embassy and consulates cannot approach these dance company venues directly, and they’re doing it,” Matas told NTD, adding that such actions go against the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.“What the Canadian government should do is say to Wang Yi when he’s here, ’this is a treaty you signed. This is our law. Respect our law. Respect the treaty,’” he said.Canada’s InterestCharles Burton, a senior fellow with the think tank Synopsis, and a member of the advisory board to the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project and the Canada Tibet Committee, expressed concern about Chinese officials warning Canadian MPs against visiting Taiwan—which the Chinese regime considers part of its territory—as well as Ottawa signing an agreement with China on police  cooperation, which the government won’t make public.“There are a number of issues there in terms of expectations,” he told NTD about Wang’s visit to Canada.“I think the Chinese would like Canada to support their entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership, although most of us believe that China is not qualified—their economy is not free enough to be qualified for that grouping—and of course they want us to continue to tolerate the activities of Chinese diplomats in Canada engaging in transnational repression.”Burton, who was formerly a Canadian diplomat working in China, said Beijing’s mode of operation is to make demands without committing to anything on its part that would benefit Canada.“I anticipate that the engagement will be largely one way: the Chinese demanding things of Canada in exchange for a promise of maintaining or expanding Canadian access to the Chinese market for Canadian commodities and services, but we have no assurance that the Chinese side will actually fulfill that kind of commitment,” he said.Burton pointed out that China is not a large-volume export market for Canada, accounting for about 4 percent of Canada’s total exports. He argued that even if Canada doubles that volume as it seeks to diversify trade destinations, China still would not be a particularly large market for Canada.According to Global Affairs figures, Canada exported $29.9 billion worth of merchandise to China in 2024, accounting for 3.8 percent of Canada’s total exports, while China exported $118.7 billion worth of products to Canada, continuing the significant trade imbalance between the two countries.“[Prime Minister Mark] Carney ought to consider the implications of his giving priority to building Canadian prosperity through trade with China,” Burton said.“I don’t see the compromises that he’s making on non-trade issues, on security and sovereignty, and democratic values, as justified by the potential benefits that frankly I don’t think will derive from his interactions with the Chinese.”NTD contributed to this report.