Canada-China Relations Committee on Nov. 2nd, 2020

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Garnett Genuis]

Thank you, Ms. Zann.

We'll now proceed to Mr. Bergeron for two minutes.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Nankivell, you won't be surprised to see me continuing in exactly the same vein as a few moments ago.

Among the western democracies, apart from the Federal Republic of Germany, as I mentioned earlier, the United Kingdom has suggested that it has set up some kind of migration mechanism for Hong Kong residents. However, as far as we understand it, this would mainly be aimed at people born before the 1997 handover. This means that most of the protesters, who are young people under 23 years of age, would not be eligible for refuge in the U.K.

Contrary to the very audible discourse against the Chinese regime, we saw the United States announcing from the outset that all asylum applications had to be made on American territory. It is therefore not possible—Mr. Chong alluded to this—to proceed through the consulate in Hong Kong.

Given the very close ties Canada and Hong Kong have had for many years, at least since World War II when Canadian soldiers defended Hong Kong's territorial integrity, should Canada not effectively consider, like other western democracies such as the Federal Republic of Germany, providing safe haven for human rights protesters in Hong Kong?

[Jeff Nankivell]

Mr. Chair, I have a couple of precisions, if I may.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Garnett Genuis]

Please be very brief, as your time is up.

[Jeff Nankivell]

Germany has not announced a policy of asylum. The German refugee process, which I believe is similar to the kind of judicial process we have in Canada, has granted asylum status so Germany does not have such a program.

The U.K. has the British national overseas program. Australia—

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Garnett Genuis]

I'm sorry, I just have to jump in because of time or else Mr. Harris is not going to get his time.

Mr. Harris, you have two minutes.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you, Chair.

Mr. Nankivell, the young man I was referring to in my last question is Tony Chung, a 19-year-old who was arrested on October 27 near the United States consulate in Hong Kong. Reports say that he was planning on seeking asylum but he had been arrested in July of 2020 under the existing security law in relation to social media posts, which is not normally regarded as a violent crime.

Had Mr. Chung come to the Canadian consulate and visitor access, are there any mechanisms available to you and to your consulate to assist someone like Mr. Chung who may be seeking asylum, although, as you say, you don't grant asylum in the country where a person resides? Is there any mechanism where you could provide travel documentation or in some way assist that person to get into a place where he could claim asylum?

[Jeff Nankivell]

Let me say that we do have great sympathy for people in Hong Kong, especially young people who are feeling huge stress in these new political circumstances. That said, wherever you are in the world, everyone who is in the territory is subject to the legal authorities in that territory. I regret that we don't have the powers to intervene. If someone is under a bail condition, their passport has been confiscated and they are prohibited from leaving the territory, regrettably there really isn't a means. We do not have the power to intervene to make it possible for them to exit.

Hong Kong is a territory that has exit controls, unlike Canada, so people have to clear Hong Kong immigration before they get on a plane. If they're under a legal prohibition from leaving, we do not have the power to facilitate their departure.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Garnett Genuis]

Thank you, Mr. Nankivell.

Colleagues, at this point I'll proceed to suspend for the vote.

We have been informed by the House administration that we can have resources available to us to use between the conclusion of the vote and the beginning of statements by members, so we will suspend now. I'll consult with our regular chair, who I believe will be available, as to whether we will continue with some additional questions for Mr. Nankivell or whether we will proceed to committee business.

Just watch your emails with respect to that, whether we'll be convening in camera or in public.

Mr. Nankivell, thank you so much for your time and your testimony. Maybe we'll be hearing more from you, or maybe we won't, but if we're not able to reconvene with you, then I think members would be grateful if you could follow up in writing on some of the points we ran out of time on.

With that, the committee stands suspended. Thank you very much.

[Proceedings continue in camera]