Countering transnational repression

As the events surrounding the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar have reminded us, transnational repression is a tool that governments use all too often to silence the voices of their former residents, get information from them, or coerce them to return home. The killing in June of Niijar, a Canadian citizen campaigning for an independent Sikh homeland, although denied and labeled by India as “absurd,” provides a tragic example of what can happen if transnational repression remains unchallenged in Canada. 

As far back as 2020, then Canadian Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said in a statement, “We are aware of incidents in which foreign actors have attempted to monitor, intimidate or threaten Canadians and those living in Canada…Canadians can be confident that our security agencies have the skills and resources necessary to detect, investigate and respond to such threats.”  

Despite this declaration, there are numerous documented incidents of transnational repression occurring across the country.   

For years, Mehmet Tohiti, the Canadian representative of the World Uyghur Congress, has been receiving threatening phone calls from China– the most disturbing of which alleged his mother and various family members were dead.  

In 2019, when Chemi Lhamo, a young Tibetan-Canadian activist, became president of the University of Toronto student union, her election was seen as a threat to the Chinese government. In the subsequent weeks, she found herself subjected to an ongoing campaign of harassment and intimidation, including threats of sexual assault, murder, and threat to her family in Tibet.  

More recently, Canadian MP Michael Chong provided testimony before a Congressional committee in Washington, D.C. He recounted how his family in Hong Kong had faced threats from authorities to silence his criticism of Beijing.  

There are also growing concerns from Iranian Canadians who say they are being threatened, monitored, and followed at protests and outside their homes by affiliates of the Iranian regime in Canada. In one case, Maryam Shafipour, an Iranian woman once imprisoned in Tehran’s egregious Evin Prison for “spreading propaganda against the system” and now lives in Canada, disclosed to the CBC last year that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard had issued threats against her family in Iran.  

Despite warnings from activists, there is little support for victims who experience such targeting, and policy and enforcement efforts have been insufficient.  

Issues with reporting  

A 2022 report by Citizen Lab on digital transnational repression in Canada found few victims living in exile had reached out to Canadian law enforcement regarding the harassment and threats they faced, and those who did were often disappointed by the response. In one case, an activist was told that investigating harassing phone calls could not be pursued because they came from an international phone number and was advised to hire a private investigator instead. Consequently, the report states, “Participants simply avoided dealing with the police, fearing that it might make the situation worse or that they could not be of assistance.” 

One of the primary challenges with effectively responding to transnational repression, including threats, online harassment and abuse of family members still living in the home country, is that these acts fall outside the scope of criminal law in Canada.  

Testimony provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner before the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations in 2021 revealed that most calls to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and RCMP hotlines are deemed to have no connection to national security and are not followed up by law enforcement. 

Additionally, the Commissioner pointed out that many of the threats reported by individuals do not reach the threshold of constituting a criminal offense, stating, “Obviously, in our space, it’s about criminal code infractions, so it’s important that it meets that threshold.” 

She further explained that RCMP investigations of foreign interference are “self-generated” and do not stem from reports made by individuals through the tip line. 

It appears that awareness of malign acts by foreign governments against people residing in Canada has not spread from the leadership of security agencies to federal and local law enforcement, leaving people targeted by transnational repression without much recourse. 

To address these gaps the Canadian government must evaluate whether existing laws prohibiting foreign interference are sufficient to address tactics of transnational repression, including harassment and intimidation. In doing so, it should consider developing a definition of transnational repression. It must also raise awareness of transnational repression within the government and establish methods for law enforcement and security services to engage in outreach to communities targeted for transnational repression.