New questions have surfaced about relations between a federal Liberal candidate operating in Markham-Unionville and China’s consulate in Toronto, together with his presentation of an award of appreciation to a consul-general and showing to salute the Communist flag at an occasion celebrating the institution of the Folks’s Republic of China.
Peter Yuen, then a Toronto Police Service (TPS) superintendent, attended a Queen’s Park ceremony in 2016 together with a half dozen different uniformed TPS officers to commemorate the authoritarian regime’s 67th anniversary alongside then-Ontario Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne.
In a photograph revealed afterwards on the web site of the People’s Republic of China Toronto Consulate, Yuen seems to be saluting the Chinese language flag whereas it’s being raised exterior the legislature.
In his TPS uniform, Peter Yuen showing to salute the Chinese language flag as it’s raised throughout a ceremony to commemorate the authoritarian regime’s 67th anniversary alongside then Ontario Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne exterior Ontario’s legislature.
Toronto Consulate web site / Folks’s Republic of China
Two years earlier, World Information discovered a photograph of a uniformed Yuen at an occasion inside China’s Toronto consulate, revealed in The China Daily USA edition, displaying him giving a plaque to outgoing PRC Toronto Consul Fang Li “in appreciation for his assist and friendship throughout his time period in workplace.”
The Toronto police officer and Chinese language diplomat have been surrounded by seven youthful TPS officers, whose presence on the consulate occasion was not defined.
This 2016 photograph reveals Toronto Police Superintendant Peter Yuen (heart left) giving a plaque to departing PRC Toronto consul Fang Li, surrounded by 7 different unidentified Toronto law enforcement officials. The occasion occurred on the China consulate in Toronto.
Li Na / China Each day (USA Version)
Introduced with an in depth checklist of particular World Information questions on his attendance at these occasions, Yuen, who retired as a TPS deputy commissioner in 2022, supplied solely a normal response:
“I’m pleased with my Hong Kong heritage, however I’ve been a Canadian citizen for over 45 years and have been honoured to serve my neighborhood on the entrance strains of the Toronto Police Service for greater than 30 years.
“I’m on this race as a result of I’m dedicated to constructing a powerful, resilient, and united Canada. In the course of the interval you referenced, occasions of this nature have been frequent amongst non-public and public establishments as a method to strengthen people-to-people ties.”
“In my capability as a police officer, I attended public security conferences world wide, together with Taiwan. I consider in a powerful Canada that stands agency in its defence of democracy, human rights, and the rule of legislation. If I’ve the privilege of serving as a Member of Parliament, I’ll at all times assist this work.”
World Information found Yuen’s participation within the two occasions after the National Post reported last week that Yuen additionally made a visit in 2015 to the Folks’s Republic of China, the place he attended a Chinese language army parade in Beijing on the invitation of the communist authorities.
Yuen mentioned his participation within the journey was authorized by Toronto police and his superiors “as a part of a broader effort to acknowledge the position of Canada and its allies within the Second World Conflict,” the Nationwide Submit reported.
An NBC TV video report of the occasion confirmed China boldly displaying its rising army would possibly for political causes after a large inventory market crash.
Get breaking Nationwide information
For information impacting Canada and world wide, join breaking information alerts delivered on to you once they occur.
The NBC’s report reveals chief Xi Jinping having fun with “wave after wave of goose-stepping troopers, tanks and missiles” and watching plane because the army parade handed by means of (and above) Tiananmen Sq.. It confirmed Chinese language chief Xi Jinping wanting on approvingly alongside his visitor of honour, Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
“Most Western leaders stayed away,” the NBC report added.
A number of information organizations have reported that Yuen additionally served briefly on the educational advisory board of a non-public Toronto highschool that provides in-person and on-line courses to abroad Chinese language college students looking for to organize for entry into Canadian and U.S. universities.
The Hogue Fee of Inquiry heard testimony — and acquired redacted CSIS briefing notes — that advised some college students from the highschool have been bussed to Han Dong’s bid to win the federal Liberal nomination in Don Valley North using in 2019.
Dong testified on the inquiry that he didn’t know who organized or paid for the buses that transported the scholars but additionally acknowledged that he had tried to recruit the scholars as political supporters throughout an earlier go to to a residence the place the scholars stayed.
Justice Hogue cited categorized intelligence holdings that advised the efforts have been a part of an obvious try by the Chinese language authorities to intervene with the result of that Liberal nomination.
Neither the Liberal Get together nor Yuen responded to questions on when his tenure with the highschool started or ended. Historic digital information of the NOIC Academy’s web site reviewed by World Information listed Yuen as a member of its advisory board between a minimum of March 30,2023, and Sept. 19, 2024.
Yuen’s uniformed look on the occasions in 2015 and 2016 coincided with China going through worldwide censure.
The regime confronted mounting allegations of systemic issues in its felony justice system, which resulted in widespread torture and different sick therapy by Chinese language police and unfair trials, based on human rights watchdog group Amnesty Worldwide.
World Information contacted former CSIS intelligence officer Dan Stanton and a pro-democracy chief in Toronto’s Chinese language neighborhood for his or her reactions in regards to the Yuen images and his journey to Beijing.
Cheuk Kwan, co-chairman of the Toronto Affiliation for Democracy in China, mentioned he had a number of issues about Yuen’s relationships with the Chinese language consulate and conduct at PRC occasions.
Kwan mentioned that whereas it’s not incorrect to pay tribute to a departing international consul normal, it’s a nationwide matter normally dealt with by federal Canadian officers.
‘This isn’t one thing to be executed by a neighborhood police officer.’
“That is nationwide politics. This isn’t one thing to be executed by a neighborhood police officer. That’s China overstepping its boundaries. The proof is there. We’re left guessing the motive.”
“You see the road of Chinese language Canadian policemen backing him. To me, that’s past pale and completely inappropriate,” Kwan added. “The issue is that these individuals see no downside doing that. It’s enterprise as common.”
“What we’re seeing is that this isn’t enterprise as common. It is a repressive regime. You’re cow-towing to anyone else,” Kwan added, saying Toronto law enforcement officials shouldn’t go to the PRC consulate in uniform and shouldn’t be saluting the PRC flag.
“There’s a safety concern, however there’s not a lot we will do to cease individuals from hob-knobbing with the consulate,” Kwan mentioned.
Ex-CSIS officer Dan Stanton mentioned he wasn’t involved.
“There’s unlikely to be something sinister or nationwide safety associated to this very public acknowledgment to a diplomat. Consul Generals do good work in the neighborhood. Most don’t have an intelligence position,” Stanton mentioned, saying affect efforts can be hidden.
“The (different) TPS officers (within the two units of occasion images) most likely have familial hyperlinks to Hong Kong, so this performs effectively in Chinese language media,” Stanton added.
In the course of the interval of Yuen’s journey and images, nevertheless, Amnesty Worldwide published a detailed report that expressed issues about PRC actions inside and outdoors the nation in 2015 and 2016.
New legal guidelines offered critical threats to human rights
Amnesty mentioned the PRC had drafted and enacted a sequence of latest “nationwide safety legal guidelines” that offered critical threats to the safety of human rights.
“(Chinese language) Police detained growing numbers of human rights defenders exterior of formal detention services, typically with out entry to a lawyer for lengthy intervals, exposing the detainees to the danger of torture and different ill-treatment,” the Amnesty report mentioned.
“Booksellers, publishers, activists and a journalist who went lacking in neighbouring international locations in 2015 and 2016 turned up in detention in China, inflicting issues about China’s legislation enforcement companies performing exterior their jurisdiction,” Amnesty added.
Kwan added there was no want for a TPS officer like Yuen to journey to Beijing to attend a army parade, both. He additionally questioned who paid for Yuen’s journey and why.
Kwan additionally remarked {that a} Canadian police officer additionally shouldn’t salute the flag of a repressive regime.
Toronto Police Service company spokeswoman Stephanie Sayer declined to reply questions on Yuen, nor did she reply to questions on who paid for his journey to the army parade in Beijing in 2015 or who authorized it, as a substitute referring the queries to Yuen.
Yuen didn’t reply World Information’ direct query about who paid his journey and lodging bills for the 2015 Beijing journey.
Media stories from the previous a number of years counsel that elevating and flying the Chinese language flag in Toronto has change into an more and more controversial difficulty in Ontario, because the Chinese language authorities has confronted growing allegations of international interference in Canadian elections.
Related occasions have been halted at Queen’s Park in 2020 and within the City of Markham in 2019 following outcry from Chinese language Canadian taxpayers and residents who protested such occasions, calling for them to be banned and for officers who organized them to apologize.
Yuen was unexpectedly picked to run in Markham earlier this month after incumbent Liberal MP Paul Chiang was compelled to withdraw. Yuen had launched an unsuccessful marketing campaign in Ontario’s February election.
Chiang resigned after he made remarks suggesting Canadians flip in Joe Tay, a Tory candidate and pro-democracy Chinese language activist, to the PRC Consulate in Toronto and acquire a bounty. Chiang later apologized for his remarks, which induced outrage throughout Canada and requires his resignation.
The Markham using, which is dwelling to one in every of Canada’s largest inhabitants of residents of Chinese language ancestry, has been a magnet for political troubles and international affect efforts, together with being the placement of an alleged abroad Chinese language secret police station that was shuttered by the RCMP.
Source link