Good morning, committee members and honourable Chair.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to this important issue.
I'd also like to thank the technical staff and the interpreters for their hard work.
My name is Ai-Men Lau. I'm currently an independent research assistant, but for the past three years I was based in Taiwan working at the civil society organization Doublethink Lab, where I researched foreign information and influence operations targeting Taiwan and the international community. While the views I present today are my own, my testimony draws on some research conducted at DoubleThink Lab by my colleagues and me.
Past testimonies on civic resilience at this committee have highlighted a number of factors that have provided fertile ground for polarization, including distance from and distrust of democratic institutions, a lack of transparency and rising economic anxiety. These social cleavages can be and have been exploited by adversaries. I've seen how foreign information manipulation and interference, or FIMI, poses a threat to civic resilience. I was also fortunate to observe how Taiwan's civil society has risen to the challenges of countering FIMI.
I want to stress this: I recognize that Taiwan's model of resilience may not be appropriate for the Canadian context, but I believe there are valuable lessons that Canada can draw from it. In Doublethink Lab's report entitled “Taiwan POWER: A Model for Foreign Information Manipulation & Interference Resilience”, author Ben Graham Jones noted, “Taiwan’s resilience is primarily driven from the bottom-up. Government plays a role as a funding body and in providing overarching directions regarding the significance and nature of the threat, but action is decentralized.”
An example of this decentralized action can be found in Taiwan's Cofacts, a volunteer-driven fact-checking service. The initial verification is done by a volunteer. It is then sent to the user. However, should other volunteers disagree with the initial verification, they can send their own verification to the users, who in turn can make an informed decision. A peer-reviewed study by Andy Zhao found that the crowdsourced fact-checking was as accurate as that of professional sources.
I bring up Cofacts as an example because Mr. Chris Blask from QuietWire, in previous testimony, made a profound point on how community can help people make sense of events without losing agency, which in turn strengthens civic resilience. The Cofacts model is certainly not the sole solution or strategy to countering FIMI, but it is one of many that have emerged from Taiwan's vibrant civil society. However, this vibrancy is in jeopardy, as Taiwan's civil society and resilience are not immune to the challenges of unstable, inconsistent and diminished funding, especially in the past two years. Civil society and resilience cannot be built on a foundation of precarity, whether in Taiwan or at home in Canada. As other witnesses before me have recommended, I'd also recommend that the committee examine ways in which the Canadian government can create a long-term, sustainable funding strategy to support Canada's civil society.
Finally, given my work, I'd be remiss not to mention the impact of a different kind of foreign interference on civic resilience, which is transnational repression. Citizen Lab, and my own research conducted at Doublethink Lab on this subject matter, have highlighted the ramifications of transnational repression for diaspora communities. Such ramifications range from impacts on mental health to widespread self-censorship and fear of political participation.
Furthermore, there is a vacuum of cultural and language-appropriate civic education resources for diaspora communities, which have been exposed to exploitation from adversaries. My recommendation is that the government also consider funding initiatives that not only translate resources but also design outreach and engagement to incorporate community perspectives and practices. In other words, they would meet these communities where they are.
Thank you. I look forward to your questions.