Canada-China Relations Committee on Feb. 4th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I call the meeting of the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations to order.

Good morning.

Our meeting this morning will consist of two parts.

The first hour, of course, will be on consular affairs, and the second hour will be on Canada's extradition process.

As colleagues know, tomorrow evening from 5:30 to 7:30 we'll meet and have Ambassador Barton.

On Thursday, the subcommittee will meet from 11 a.m. until noon.

Our first witnesses this morning, from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, are Heather Jeffrey, assistant deputy minister, consular, security and emergency management; and Mr. Brian Szwarc, director general, consular operations.

Good morning. I think you have a 10-minute presentation. Please go ahead.

[Heather Jeffrey, Assistant Deputy Minister, Consular, Security and Emergency Management, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Members of the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations, I'm very pleased to appear before the committee today to provide a briefing on consular services, with a particular focus on the People's Republic of China.

My name is Heather Jeffrey. I'm the assistant deputy minister of consular, security and emergency management at Global Affairs Canada.

This is my colleague, Brian Szwarc, the director general for consular operations.

I will begin my presentation this morning by giving you an overview of the consular services provided to Canadians. I will then summarize the consular relationship with China, as well as our cases and the consular trends in that country. I will conclude by telling you about some of our most high profile cases in China.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs is responsible for the provision of consular services to Canadians abroad. These services are delivered by Global Affairs Canada and are guided by the Canadian Consular Services Charter.

Canadian representatives provide consular services 24/7 through more than 260 points of service across 150 countries and through the Emergency Watch and Response Centre, in Ottawa.

In order to provide relevant information to Canadians during their travels abroad, Global Affairs Canada makes use of two tools. The department's travel advice and advisories provide information on safe travel to more than 200 destinations, and the registration of Canadians abroad service enables government officials to contact Canadians in emergency situations. The Canadian Consular Services Charter details the services that Canadian government officials can provide to Canadians abroad.

These services include, for example, helping in a medical emergency by providing a list of local doctors and hospital services, providing victims of crime with advice and contact information for local police and medical services, assisting in cases of missing persons or the abduction of a child to another country, and the replacement of passports. In cases of arrest or detention, authorities are obligated by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations to advise foreign nationals of their right of access to a consular representative. Once Canada is notified of the detention of a Canadian citizen, the first priority of consular officials is to seek immediate access to that person to determine their safety and well-being.

In such cases, consular officials would advocate for equal treatment in accordance with local laws, liaise with family and legal representatives, and provide detainees with information on the local judicial and prison systems. Our officials offer consular support to all Canadian citizens, regardless of whether they carry another citizenship. However, many foreign states, such as China, do not recognize dual citizenship and might refuse to allow consular access to individuals they consider to be citizens only of their own country. This is a situation that consular officials deal with regularly in the Chinese context.

In total, about 175,000 new cases have been opened throughout our consular network in 2019. The vast majority of cases are of a routine or administrative nature, such as passport services or proof of citizenship applications, and they are generally addressed quickly by our missions abroad.

However, some 6,700 cases are more complex. In general, these are cases where Canadians need help dealing with a difficult situation abroad, such as a death, an arrest or a detention, a crime, a medical problem or issues with child care. The United States, Mexico and China are the countries with the largest number of those complex consular cases.

It is important to note that protecting the personal information of our consular clients is paramount. Consular officials are obliged to work within the parameters set by the Privacy Act. For this reason, the government is often very limited in what details it can provide publicly regarding specific consular cases.

With this overview of consular services offered by the Government of Canada, I will now provide some details specific to our consular services in China. Let me begin by giving a brief update on Canada's response to the novel coronavirus.

The current outbreak is of deep concern to Canadians in China, as well as in Canada. Actions are being taken to assist the impacted Canadians in Wuhan. As Deputy Minister Morgan informed you last week, Canada has secured a charter flight to bring Canadians from Wuhan, China to Canada, and we are finalizing arrangements with Chinese authorities to allow this flight to depart as soon as possible.

Global Affairs Canada is working closely with the Public Health Agency of Canada to provide relevant and timely travel and health information to Canadians in relation to the outbreak. Our travel advice was updated on January 24 to advise Canadians to avoid all travel to the province of Hubei due to the imposition of heavy travel restrictions in order to limit the spread of the virus. On January 29, we further updated the advisory to recommend against non-essential travel to China as a whole due to the outbreak.

Overall, in 2019 alone, consular officials opened 375 new cases in greater China. These include cases of arrest and detention, medical assistance, assault, well-being and whereabouts. There are currently 123 Canadians in custody in greater China. This figure is inclusive of Canadians in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. I want to stress that the number of Canadians in custody in China has remained stable over the last year.

The provision of consular services to Canadians in China is governed by a bilateral agreement signed by Canada and China more than 20 years ago. This agreement, which is available publicly, details the consular obligations and entitlements of our two countries in order to facilitate the protection of the rights and interests of our citizens.

I will now summarize some of the most high profile cases concerning China, which I think are of special interest to the committee.

Given the public nature of this meeting, I am limited by the provisions of the Privacy Act when it comes to personal information I can share.

The Government of Canada is extremely concerned by the cases of Canadians arbitrarily detained or facing the death penalty in China. Canadian representatives at all levels have raised those concerns with their Chinese counterparts, and they will continue to do so.

Canada opposes the use of the death penalty in all cases everywhere. Aligned with this principle, the Government of Canada seeks clemency for all Canadians facing the death penalty. Canada has raised with China our firm position on the death penalty, and we have called on China to grant clemency to Canadians facing this sentence.

In the cases of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, the Government of Canada has been unwavering in its position and in calling for their immediate release and return to Canada. As you will no doubt be aware, Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor were detained by Chinese authorities on December 10, 2018, accused of posing a threat to China's national security. They were formally arrested on May 6, 2019.

Officials at the Embassy of Canada to China have had regular consular access to Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor since their detention in December 2018, conducting consular visits on an approximately monthly basis. The latest consular visit to Mr. Spavor took place on January 13, and to Mr. Kovrig on January 14, led by Ambassador Barton. The Government of Canada has been very clear that these two Canadians have been unacceptably and arbitrarily detained. We will continue to call for their immediate release.

Mr. Robert Schellenberg was detained by Chinese authorities in 2014 and charged with drug smuggling. He was initially sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment, but at a December 2018 appeal hearing, a Chinese court ordered a retrial. The next month a judge overturned the initial verdict and issued a death sentence. Mr. Schellenberg appealed the death sentence, and a hearing took place in May 2019. The verdict is pending.

Canada has strongly condemned the sentence of death imposed on Mr. Schellenberg at his retrial, and we expressed our extreme concern that China chose to arbitrarily apply the death penalty in his case. We have called on China to grant clemency to Mr. Schellenberg.

The particular cases that I've highlighted today represent only a few cases of the Canadian citizens in custody in China. While privacy considerations limit me from providing any details on specific cases, I want to stress that Canadian officials, both here and in China, are actively engaged on all of these cases and will continue to raise concerns with Chinese authorities.

Thank you for the opportunity to present this consular overview to the committee. We look forward to your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Thank you very much.

Now we'll begin with the first round of questioning. We have Mr. Genuis.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the witnesses. It's a pleasure to be here at this important committee.

Maybe I'll start with a case that's been in the news recently, the case of a woman who's a permanent resident and is in Wuhan. I wonder if you could speak to the approach you take with permanent residents around the provision of consular services, and maybe walk out a little bit the decision not to include in the evacuation those who are permanent residents of Canada.

[Heather Jeffrey]

The situation in Wuhan was first raised just over a week ago, with the imposition of quite severe quarantine restrictions on a large province. The Chinese government imposed these measures in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus. With the imposition of those measures, Canadians and permanent residents in the province found themselves unable to depart. Commercial means of transportation were blocked.

Since that time, we have been working 24-7 to reach out to those Canadians and to find ways to assist them. Minister Champagne spoke yesterday about the measures being taken in terms of the evacuation flight. In cases of a humanitarian nature, such as those we see in Wuhan, our policy is to provide full services to all Canadians, permanent residents and their families, to the extent that we are able. However, the policy of the Government of China is that our consular access and services be restricted, in practice, to Canadian citizens and, in many cases, to Canadian citizens who entered China on a Canadian passport or travel document.

We've been working with the Chinese government to find a way to facilitate the exit of those Canadians on our evacuation flights. We've obtained the agreement of the Chinese government to allow permanent residents to accompany Canadian citizen children who need to evacuate that zone—which is some progress. We are continuing to advocate for others, but in the final analysis, it will be the decision of the Government of China whether they allow that. On our side, for the purposes of the Government of Canada, we are doing our best to offer those services to Canadians.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Okay, just to be very clear, there's a story in The Toronto Sun about a particular case, a woman named Debbie Lu. What you're saying is that the Canadian government is prepared to support her evacuation and that of other people in that situation—that is, permanent residents without children—if the Chinese government allows it.

[Heather Jeffrey]

We're engaged in discussions with the Government of China about what restrictions they're placing on the evacuation operations. I'm not in a position to comment about where those discussions will end, but we are making some progress, and we will continue to work on this.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Okay, thank you.

In a different vein, in the context of “the two Michaels,” as they're often called, there has been a lot of political commentary by prominent people connected with the governing party making suggestions. For instance, a prisoner exchange was what one former minister had suggested as a way to resolve this. Could you comment on the appropriateness of that kind of suggestion?

[Heather Jeffrey]

From the perspective of the Privacy Act, in order to protect the individual in question, it would not be advisable for us to comment on the strategies for any particular case.

What I will say is that we are working very intensively for the safe return of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, and for the clemency of Mr. Schellenberg. We do that by assessing the variety of approaches we can take, the different channels. We consult.

In this case, where these cases are so evidently intertwined with broader bilateral considerations, we work across government and with other partners to pursue every possible avenue. That includes private and public advocacy. It includes bilateral engagement directly. It can also include joint approaches with other countries.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Right. Can I just dig into that point, though? Take it away from the particulars, then, and make it a hypothetical prisoner exchange of somebody lawfully detained in Canada for somebody arbitrarily detained in another country. Would you ever recommend that as a good approach for trying to resolve a consular case?

[Heather Jeffrey]

In terms of the consular services we can provide to people who are arbitrarily detained—and we call this case an arbitrary detention because of the timing of it, because of the decision to order Mr. Schellenberg's retrial, because of the public comments that were made by China's prosecutor general in terms of the circumstances of the detention—we are using every avenue available through our consular services to advocate for their well-being, to provide consular services directly through our visits, and also to develop the consular plans and strategies that inform the whole-of-government approach.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

I completely agree with you in the characterization of these people as being arbitrarily detained.

Is it fair to say that comments that suggest Canada should be releasing a person who was legally arrested by independent law enforcement agencies...? Is it fair to say that comments by politically well-connected people along those lines are very unhelpful to Canada in trying to actually make the case that these are arbitrary detentions in China?

[Heather Jeffrey]

I'm not going to speak to the views of others, Mr. Chair.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

That's fair enough.

[Heather Jeffrey]

I can only speak to the consular approach that we are taking on the ground, and I can assure you that we're working very intensively through channels at all levels of government.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you.

Could I just ask about the Celil case? Can you give us an update at all on the Celil case and what action the Government of Canada is taking around that case?

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Speak very briefly.

[Heather Jeffrey]

The Government of Canada is deeply concerned by the credible reports of detention and family separation of Uighurs in China, which run counter to China's human rights obligations. We've urged the Chinese authorities to release those who are detained.

In the case of Mr. Celil, we have not been granted consular access to him, but we continue to advocate and to call on Chinese authorities to do so.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Thank you, Mr. Genuis.

We will go to Mr. Oliphant.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I start by offering huge thanks from members of the Liberal caucus for your work. I think 2020 has been one of the most taxing years that I have seen with respect to consular services, with the downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight 752, which was hugely taxing for your small department, to be immediately followed by the coronavirus crisis. So, thank you for what you do, and for coming here. I thought you might have good excuses not to be here today.

You raised the issue that we have thousands of consular cases every year. We have hundreds of difficult ones and a hundred or so very complex cases. That work is ongoing. In the midst of this, the coronavirus has required that you be nimble. I'm just wondering how you started with the coronavirus plans. There has been criticism that we didn't have a plan from the government side, and I have seen some of those plans. What kind of planning process do you start with when you're facing early signs of a health issue like a pandemic-like coronavirus?

[Heather Jeffrey]

Mr. Chair, we began with reporting through our emergency watch and response centre, which is actually an emergency management tool that conducts a bit of a watch on what's happening globally around the world. We have situation reporting to inform people of developing situations.

In the case of the coronavirus, we began in January to track the spread of that virus. On January 26, we stood up an emergency response team when we saw the measures being taken by the Government of China to control the spread of that virus and the challenges that it was putting in place for local residents in Hubei province in particular.

I would say that, at the time, the full extent of the Canadian presence in Hubei province was not immediately evident. We don't have a consulate in that province. At the time there was only a very small number of Canadians who were actually registered through the registry of Canadians abroad as being resident in Hubei.

I would say, generally, that when Canadians feel in a more secure or safe place they tend not to think about registering with the government when they travel. They do so, I think, in what they perceive as more dangerous or hostile areas. In this case, I think we had only about 38 Canadians registered. Now we know that there are many more—we're up to 565 Canadians registered in Hubei province. About eight or nine days ago we had no requests for consular assistance. Those requests have obviously escalated.

Currently, all the requests we have in Hubei are from Canadians seeking assistance to depart. We have no cases of Canadians who are ill with the virus who are looking for our help to leave the province. We've been working with the Government of China to obtain those permissions.

Obviously, a response and evacuation out of a quarantine zone in a country such as China poses some unique challenges. Every emergency response is different, and this one indeed has a lot of complexity to it. We immediately put in place a process to put together the evacuation flight and seek the necessary permissions. We required visas from the Chinese government, and we required overflight clearances from a number of countries, some of which have closed their airspace in recent days. All of those challenges have been met and overcome, and we are now not that far away from removing the first tranche of Canadians from that situation.

But it does require a very detailed response. We had to send a ground team into Wuhan, so we now have a consular team on the ground in Wuhan city. They are preparing the logistics for the departure. We've been working with local authorities, completing the manifests of passengers and also compiling all the details that are required for ground movements in an area under such severe quarantine restrictions. People have to inform us of their routings, about how they're going to get to the airport—

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Obviously we have a frayed relationship right now with China, and it has been difficult for over a year. In this instance, have you found this to be a normal exchange that you would expect with Chinese officials? Have they been co-operative or not co-operative? Are they seeking our assistance? Are we seeking their assistance?

It's an abnormal situation, but is this within the range of what you would expect for Canada-China co-operation?

[Heather Jeffrey]

In terms of the discussions we have had with the Chinese authorities in regard to the evacuation plans, these discussions have been constructive. We have been working. They have issued visas for our team. We are working through the details of some of the complex family situations that have been raised. We are continuing to have those dialogues, and they've been responsive to our requests to date.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Mr. Bergeron, go ahead.