Evidence of meeting #25 for Canada-China Relations in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was universities.
A video is available from Parliament.
8:50 p.m.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
You receive funding from the Confucius Institute head office in Beijing but you're telling me that at the same time, you don't provide any information back to them on how those funds are used?
8:50 p.m.
Director, National Capital Confucius Institute for Culture, Language and Business, Carleton University, As an Individual
At the time, they kind of asked how the fund is managed, and I told them that it's managed by the university finance, and then there were no more questions.
8:50 p.m.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Who develops the curricular materials you use? Are they developed by head office, or are they developed by you locally?
8:50 p.m.
Director, National Capital Confucius Institute for Culture, Language and Business, Carleton University, As an Individual
We have visiting scholars from China. They express a willingness to be visiting scholars. I collect their applications, and identify them as candidates. When Carleton requires instructors, I give these candidates to the Carleton departments. The departments review their academic qualifications and arrange interviews.
When the department and faculty—
8:50 p.m.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Sorry, Mr. Li; the question is about curricular materials, not about visiting scholars.
8:50 p.m.
Director, National Capital Confucius Institute for Culture, Language and Business, Carleton University, As an Individual
We have visiting scholars from China who teach language courses at Carleton with the School of Linguistic and Language Studies. They follow the Carleton curriculum policy and content—
8:50 p.m.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Okay, thank you, sir. I have one last question. Have you ever had visiting scholars visit from Taiwan, as you consider Taiwan to be part of China, for the purposes of your objectives of building connection and understanding?
8:50 p.m.
Director, National Capital Confucius Institute for Culture, Language and Business, Carleton University, As an Individual
We have not received from the institute point of—
8:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Geoff Regan
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Genuis.
We'll move on to Ms. Yip for six minutes.
8:50 p.m.
Liberal
Jean Yip Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Thank you for coming as witnesses during this late hour.
My first question is for Mr. Elcock.
I noticed in your bio that you were the federal coordinator for the Olympics. How do you feel about Canadian athletes participating in the upcoming Beijing Olympics?
8:55 p.m.
As an Individual
My view on the subject, frankly, is that the last time we as a country decided not to participate in the Olympics—which was the boycott in the Soviet Union—was really not a success. It did nothing to further the point. Frankly, it was not a success.
That should not be taken as a comment with respect to any of the concerns that are expressed about China and China's practices. I'm not sure if the Olympics are necessarily the best venue for those matters to be discussed. I don't think a boycott of the Beijing Olympics will achieve anything.
8:55 p.m.
Liberal
Jean Yip Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Mr. Li, from 2007 to 2012, there were 15 Confucius Institutes opened across Canada. What led to their rapid enhancement at the time? Have there been any similar increases since then?
8:55 p.m.
Director, National Capital Confucius Institute for Culture, Language and Business, Carleton University, As an Individual
The Confucius Institute at Carleton started operation in 2012. I cannot speak for the other institutes, really.
8:55 p.m.
Liberal
Jean Yip Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
In October 2014, the Toronto District School Board removed the Confucius Institute's involvement and its contribution to the public school curriculum due to not aligning with community values.
Why did that happen? Is CI present in any schools now?
8:55 p.m.
Director, National Capital Confucius Institute for Culture, Language and Business, Carleton University, As an Individual
I cannot speak for that institute, or what's happening in Toronto. Our curriculum is at Carleton. The visiting scholars are teaching Carleton curriculum content.
8:55 p.m.
Liberal
Jean Yip Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Are your instructors free to discuss human rights? Is there open transparency at Carleton University?
8:55 p.m.
Director, National Capital Confucius Institute for Culture, Language and Business, Carleton University, As an Individual
The visiting scholars follow, and are covered under, all of Carleton's policies and procedures, just like any other scholars at Carleton. We are guided by academic freedom, human rights and freedom of expression.
8:55 p.m.
Liberal
Jean Yip Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Thank you.
Mr. Elcock, back in December, you appeared before committee to discuss what you saw as the relatively minor procurement of Nuctech, but I want to focus on remarks that you made previously, when you said we should not be looking at one company when it comes to investments but at the Chinese government as a whole.
Before committee you discussed enhancement to security reviews, declaring that you might continue to want to buy from China if you've taken all of the security issues into review. Earlier this year, we issued revised guidelines on the national security review of investments to ensure that Canadian businesses must consider what national security review provisions mean for their business planning and supply chains, especially in the case of investments by state-owned or state-influenced investors.
What are the benefits to this approach and what else can be done?
8:55 p.m.
As an Individual
I think, Mr. Chairman, the approach to reviewing businesses is likely to be an ongoing process. The reality is that it has moved substantially from the first cases that really became an issue with respect to the Chinese acquisition of businesses in Canada. I think it really does require a fairly careful analysis in each case: What are the benefits, what are the costs, and what are the risks to any particular acquisition?
Frankly, in some respects it is difficult to write hard and fast rules. It really does require a review of each case against all of the issues, such as risk, cost, benefits, etc.
May 3rd, 2021 / 9 p.m.
Liberal
Jean Yip Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Mr. Li, you have given lots of lectures in order to provide an understanding that China's history must be more than a background and that it should be the framework for analyzing the present. The impact of culture and traditions is sometimes ignored, and it's not unusual for outsiders to look at China from the perspective of their own societies.
Can you expand on this?
9 p.m.
Director, National Capital Confucius Institute for Culture, Language and Business, Carleton University, As an Individual
Thank you.
We arranged for cultural programming mainly just for the experiential learning and immersive experiences like workshops and hands-on sessions on the traditional arts.
9 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Geoff Regan
Mr. Li, I'm very sorry to interrupt, but the six minutes have concluded for Ms. Yip, and I'm sorry I have to interrupt your answer. Perhaps you'll have another chance to answer the question from someone else, but we have to go on now.
Mr. Bergeron, it is now your turn for six minutes.
9 p.m.
Bloc
Stéphane Bergeron Bloc Montarville, QC
Mr. Elcock, if you had been called upon to advise the Canadian government on whether Canada should participate in the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, would you have recommended that Canada participate in the games or boycott them?
9 p.m.
As an Individual
I think, Mr. Chairman, that's a rather different issue.
The Nazi Party is not quite the Communist Party of China. The situation is not entirely comparable. It is much closer to the situation with respect to the boycotting of the Olympics in the Soviet Union.
I'm not sure, Mr. Chairman, that it makes sense to make the Olympics the vehicle for objecting to issues with respect to difficulties between ourselves and China. There is no question that the relationship between China and Canada at this point is extremely difficult, but I'm not sure it's advanced on one side or the other by not participating in the Beijing Olympics.
9 p.m.
Bloc
Stéphane Bergeron Bloc Montarville, QC
Thank you.
In 2000, so 21 years ago, when you appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, you said CSIS was still processing visa applications from abroad manually, which was slow. You also stated that the transition to a computer-based system would speed things up but that computer links abroad gave rise to larger security concerns.
Things have changed. As you know, Canada contracted VFS Global to oversee visa applications in Beijing. The company is backed by a Chinese investment fund and subcontracts the work to a Beijing security company.
I should say right off the bat that CSIS did not even conduct any security checks on the company, which is managing people's personal information.
Do you think the situation is more secure now than it was in 2000?