MPs Hear Testimony on Beijing-Linked Bomb Threats That Cancelled Shen Yun in Toronto, CCPs Escalating Suppression Abroad

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is targeting the Falun Gong spiritual group internationally through a new coordinated transnational repression campaign, representatives of the Falun Dafa Association of Canada said at a parliamentary committee meeting on April 20.“Two leaked CCP documents reveal [CCP leader] Xi Jinping directly ordered a new coordinated campaign, one that has escalated sharply over the past two years, combining disinformation, lawfare, and the hoax bomb threats targeting Shen Yun and Falun Gong,” Grace Wollensak, national coordinator of the Falun Dafa Association of Canada, told MPs. Shen Yun Performing Arts, a classical Chinese dance company based in New York, was founded by leading classical Chinese artists who are Falun Gong practitioners, to revive China’s traditional culture.Wollensak made the comments as she testified before the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights, which is currently studying the global impact of transnational repression.In 2024, a political insider revealed a directive issued by Xi in 2022 to suppress Falun Gong globally, targeting organizations founded by Falun Gong practitioners. As reported by The Epoch Times, the details of the secret meeting were provided by Australia-based Chinese legal scholar Yuan Hongbing, who has maintained connections within the Chinese regime’s top political circles. His accounts were based on information from two different sources, one a veteran from a CCP family who is now opposed to Xi, and another from an insider who is speaking out of reasons of conscience.Wollensak told MPs that when Xi gave the order, he said the CCPs global struggles to eradicate Falun Gong so far were a “failure,” and “instructed all the ministries to fight Falun Gong overseas.”A Shen Yun Performing Arts poster outside the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto on April 2, 2026. Teng Dongyu/The Epoch TimesFalun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, was the fastest growing spiritual group in China in the early 1990s. The spiritual practice, based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, teaches practitioners to improve their moral character. The CCP saw the practice’s growing popularity as a threat and launched a persecution campaign in 1999, vowing to eliminate it.Xi’s directive in 2022 has led to an escalation in the CCP’s suppression campaign, Wollensak said, noting that in Canada alone, there have been 20 hoax bomb and shooting threats in the last two years targeting Shen Yun Performing Arts and Falun Gong practitioners, among more than 270 violent threats worldwide.This year, threats expanded to target Canadian leaders, including Prime Minister Mark Carney and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, if Shen Yun performed in Canada, she added. Almost identical messages were sent the same day to at least five other countries, targeting the leaders of Australia, Italy, Austria, Denmark, and South Korea.More recently, the last six of the eight Shen Yun performances scheduled in Toronto in late March and early April were cancelled after the Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts, the venue hosting the show, received fake bomb threats. The decision by the theatre to cancel the shows came despite requests by the local presenter of the show, the Falun Dafa Association of Toronto, which said interference tactics shouldn’t lead to artistic suppression in Canada, since police confirmed the threats were not credible. The presenter revealed more recent emails from the sender boasting for causing the shows’ cancellations in Toronto, and citing the CCP as the senders’ “motherland.”Shen Yun’s shows in Vancouver in early April were also targeted by fake bomb threats, but the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, which hosted the show in that city, allowed the shows to proceed after police confirmed the threats were not credible.Wollensak said Shen Yun’s cancellation in Toronto is another manifestation of the CCP’s transnational repression and foreign interference campaign, adding that the Chinese embassy in Ottawa and Chinese consulates around Canada have actively pressured theatres in Canada and the Canadian government to cancel Shen Yun performances.Censoring lawful and legitimate cultural performances in Canada will facilitate the CCP’s goal of suppressing Shen Yun, she added.Dr. Maria Cheung, senior researcher with the Falun Dafa Association of Canada, testifies before the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights in Ottawa on April 20, 2026. House of Commons/Screenshot via The Epoch Times“We should not fall into that trap that will really embolden the CCP to go further, to do more of this,” she said, adding that if the CCP sees success with its campaign in Canada, it could apply the same methods to suppressing Shen Yun in other countries.Shen Yun, which was founded in 2006, tours the globe each year with its presentation of classical Chinese dance and music, with the tagline, “China Before Communism.”‘Sustained Global Campaign’Maria Cheung, professor emeritus with the University of Manitoba and a senior researcher with the Falun Dafa Association of Canada, told MPs that transnational repression by the CCP against Falun Gong is a “sustained global campaign,” and is not limited to isolated incidents.“What is happening on Canadian soil is a direct encroachment on sovereignty, democratic values, and fundamental freedoms,” Cheung said.Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi asked whether the Falun Dafa Association of Canada has seen an evolution in transnational repression in recent years.Cheung noted that at the beginning of the CCP’s persecution campaign against Falun Gong in China, it involved Chinese consulates and embassies spreading anti-Falun Gong disinformation and hate propaganda to the public.However, in recent years, “a lot more proxies” can be seen in Canada acting on behalf of the consulates, and bomb threats have become a “daily reality” for Shen Yun performances, she said.“If we cancel [Shen Yun] shows without understanding foreign interference and transnational repression, that’s a very dangerous sign,” Cheung said. “We bow to the communist regime so that they can silence us.”Zumretay Arkin, vice-president of the World Uyghur Congress, also testified before the committee on April 20 and said she has noticed a “clear evolution” in Beijing’s transnational repression campaign against Uyghurs.She noted that two decades ago, transnational repression mainly targeted human rights defenders who were very vocal, but in recent years, Uyghurs who are not active politically or culturally are also targeted. She said this is part of the CCP’s effort to prevent Uyghurs from participating in public life.Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi (R) speaks during a news conference in Ottawa on Feb. 1, 2023 in Ottawa. The Canadian Press/Adrian WyldUnited Front Work DepartmentMPs also heard testimony from Peter Mattis, president of the Jamestown Foundation, which recently released a report saying that there are at least 575 groups linked to China’s United Front Work Department operating in Canada. The report says the organization is the CCP’s weapon to “expand control and influence without force.”“Not only can this organizational infrastructure be used to support transnational oppression, including surveillance and intimidation, but it can also be used to support other harms, including trying to insert itself between democratic citizens and the governments and the representatives so that they speak with the party’s voice,” Mattis told MPs.Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar noted that China’s United Front operations in Canada are quite significant when compared to the United States, asking Mattis about the risks this presents to Canada, and what should be done about those risks.“With Canada having the highest per capita density of United Front Work Organizations that have been going after our own Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Falun, Dafa, among many others—in Canada,  it’s five times the size of the United States, the presence per capita— … what practical reforms to you recommend?” Majumdar asked Mattis.Mattis said what we’re currently witnessing is a result of a “lack of direct pushback,” noting that there had been direct warnings from intelligence agencies in Canada since the 1990s, but they weren’t taken seriously by the government. He said there should be more investigative work done on the issue, and there should be more expertise built within the government, private companies, and universities about CCP’s operations. He also said Canada should think about how to effectively implement its upcoming foreign agent registry.“Unless there are consequences, Beijing is running no risks whatsoever by continuing their operations,” Mattis said.Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar rises in the House of Commons during question period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sept. 18, 2023. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick‘Must Stop’Wollensak told MPs that the Falun Dafa Association of Canada urges the federal government to publicly condemn the CCP’s transnational repression campaign and convey through diplomatic channels that CCP-directed interference against Canadians and institutions “must stop.”The association is also calling on the government to direct security agencies to investigate the CCP’s threats against Shen Yun and Falun Gong as foreign interference, to pursue the perpetrators of such threats, and to train frontline police to recognize transnational repression.In addition, the association is urging the government to bring Bill C-70’s counter foreign interference provisions into force “without delay” and enact dedicated legislation “explicitly criminalizing transnational repression as a distinct offence,” Wollensak said.Parliament passed Bill C-70, also known as An Act respecting countering foreign interference, in June 2024, allowing for the creation of a foreign influence registry to track individuals in Canada acting on behalf of foreign states.Although the government announced last month that it was appointing former B.C. chief electoral officer Anton Boegman as Canada’s first foreign influence transparency commissioner, the registry has yet to become operational.Wollensak also urged the government to brief performing arts venues on how to respond to foreign-linked hoax threats. “Where law enforcement finds no credible threat, Canadians’ right to attend a lawful performance must be upheld,” she said.Eva Fu contributed to this report.