While Shen Yun Performing Arts’ Toronto performances were disrupted due to fake bomb threats, the theatre hosting the company in Vancouver chose to proceed with its scheduled shows after receiving similar threats, which police confirmed to be not credible.Bomb threats were received ahead of Shen Yun’s performances scheduled to take place from April 8 to 12, according to the Falun Dafa Association of Vancouver, which is the presenter of the show in the Vancouver area. Vancouver Civic Theatres, the organization that manages the Queen Elizabeth Theatre where Shen Yun performs annually, received an emailed threat on April 2.The presenter says the bomb threat, translated from Chinese by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD), claimed that a “large quantity” of explosives had been placed in the theatre and would be detonated if all upcoming Shen Yun performances were not cancelled.The Vancouver theatre reported the threat to Vancouver police on April 3, prompting an investigation. The VPD told The Epoch Times that police determined the threat was “unfounded,” and noted that as a precaution, a bomb-sniffing dog checked the premises and found no traces of a bomb.“The Shen Yun Performing Arts shows continued as scheduled,” a spokesperson for the VPD said.In addition to bomb-sniffing dogs, additional security personnel and metal detectors were also implemented to allow the theatre to maintain the shows and ensure audience members felt safe, the organizers said.Shen Yun’s scheduled performances in Toronto in late March and early April were cancelled after the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, the venue hosting the show, received similar bomb threats. Although police confirmed the threats were unfounded, the theatre still decided to cancel the shows, which Shen Yun’s local presenters say is unprecedented globally.The show organizers say there have been over 150 such threats issued against Shen Yun over the past two years, which they say the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is behind, in an effort to cancel Shen Yun.The New York-based company, which performs under the tagline “China Before Communism” and aims to revive China’s millennia-old traditional culture, has been a target of the CCP since its founding in 2006. According to the company, its artists practice Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, a spiritual meditation discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. The practice is persecuted by the CCP.Tracing the EmailThe VPD Cybercrime Unit investigated the email address used to send the bomb threat to Vancouver Civic Theatres and determined the threat was sent from a VPN address linked to Asian regions, the organizers said, noting that while this is not conclusive evidence of the user being in Asia, the default servers for VPN services are typically in the same region as the user.In addition, police found a phone number associated with the email address and determined it was a Chinese phone number, with the user based in China.The show’s organizers said the Vancouver hoax threat fits the same pattern as the recent threats in Toronto and Seattle. The Marion Oliver McCaw Hall in Seattle, where Shen Yun performed from April 1 to 5, received a bomb threat on April 3, which was cleared after police conducted a sweep of the theatre and the shows proceeded.The Vancouver theatre also received a second threat email on April 6, but organizers have yet to receive information from the VPD on further details.Taiwanese police have previously traced some of the threat emails to Xi’an, China, through a multiagency investigation. The emails appear to have originated from a location near the Huawei Research Institute, Taiwanese authorities previously told The Epoch Times.Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, closed on the day it was scheduled to host Shen Yun, on April 1, 2026. Teng Dongyu/The Epoch TimesEmails Boast of Success, Mock CanadaMeanwhile, the sender of the emailed bomb threats to the Four Seasons Centre on March 29 also sent follow-up emails on April 3, boasting about having links to the CCP and declaring victory for the cancellation of the Toronto performances.“The Toronto Four Seasons incident was my most successful one … Haha!” reads an email, written in Chinese, which was sent to the local presenter on April 3.The email also cited the CCP as the sender’s “motherland” and denounced Canadian politicians as “insignificant.”“I think that Canada’s petty politicians are utterly insignificant. … Canada is hardly worth taking seriously. … Even my motherland’s Communist Party couldn’t make the Shen Yun emcee cry, yet I actually did it,” the email reads.A subsequent email sent a few minutes later by the same sender again boasted about the disruptions: “Hahaha! What can you do to me!? Hahaha! Police around the world have become like dogs … running around everywhere at my command! Hahaha!”The Toronto show’s presenter provided evidence indicating the same email account has been used to send threats to multiple venues around the world, including theatres in Birmingham, England; Rouen, France; Busan, South Korea, and others.The same email account was also used to send a threat to the presenter in January, warning that Parliament Hill in Ottawa would be bombed if Shen Yun performed in Canada. The Toronto Police Service told The Epoch Times that the incident is under investigation.Threats Targeting LeadersThe Toronto presenter said last month that China-linked threats against Shen Yun and organizers of the show in Canada had expanded to include Canadian politicians, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, MPs, and other senior Canadian officials.The threats similarly warned that officials could face harm, including from explosive devices, if scheduled Shen Yun performances across Canada went ahead as planned.Nearly identical messages were also sent to at least five other countries earlier this year, targeting the leaders of Australia, Italy, Austria, Denmark, and South Korea.Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was evacuated from his residence in late February, after an email was sent to local Shen Yun presenters saying bombs would be detonated at his Canberra residence if scheduled performances in Australia were to proceed. Albanese was permitted to return to his residence after police determined the threat was fake.Conservative MP Garnett Genuis in Toronto on March 30, 2026. Teng Dongyu/The Epoch TimesMP ReactionsSeveral Canadian MPs condemned the cancellation of Shen Yun performances in Toronto over the fake bomb threat.Conservative MP Garnett Genuis said it is “really outrageous” that the fake threats were able to shut down Shen Yun’s performances in Toronto.“I think we should be hearing more of an outcry,” he said in an interview with The Epoch Times’ sister media NTD, adding that the government must be be strong in defending Canadians’ rights and freedoms when it comes to foreign interference.Genuis said dealing with these kinds of threats can be “really challenging” for community-based organizations, and lawmakers need to support local resistance to foreign interference threats, as well as stronger enforcement at the national level.“We know that Shen Yun has faced challenges, not because it’s controversial among Canadians, but because a foreign government doesn’t like it,” he said. He added that the cancellation of the shows in Toronto “should be a wake up call about the need to defend artistic expression in this country.”Liberal MP Judy Sgro at the Shen Yun performance in Toronto on April 1, 2022. The Epoch TimesLiberal MP Judy Sgro also reacted to the cancellation of Shen Yun shows in Toronto, calling the situation “deeply alarming.”“I must express my acute concern and unequivocal condemnation of a troubling and escalating pattern of foreign-directed intimidation occurring here on Canadian soil–acts that strike at the very core of our sovereignty,” Sgro said in a statement on April 3.She noted the incidents are not “isolated disruptions,” but are part of “a deliberate effort to intimidate, to silence, and to interfere with lawful cultural expression in Canada.” She also said the threats targeting Parliament Hill and Canadian politicians are “an unacceptable affront to our democratic system.”Canadians should take the threats with “utmost seriousness,” Sgro said, urging law enforcement agencies to thoroughly investigate the issue and take measures to “protect Canadians and uphold our sovereignty.”“Let me be clear: foreign interference, intimidation, and harassment have no place in this country,” she said.
Shen Yun Stages 5 Successful Shows in Vancouver Despite Hoax Bomb Threat
Date:
