Good afternoon. My name is Sarah Teich. I am a lawyer based in Toronto. I am representing Secure Canada today.
Secure Canada is a non-profit organization dedicated to combatting terrorism and extremism by creating innovative laws, policies and alliances that strengthen Canada’s national security and democracy. It is a partner organization of Human Rights Action Group, the legal non-profit I co-founded two years ago with David Matas.
Together with Secure Canada, we published a report in September 2023 on combatting foreign interference and transnational repression in Canada. David and I also represented the Human Rights Coalition recently before the foreign interference commission.
Transnational repression in developing democracies is a critical subject for the Canadian government to address. We spent a great deal of time at the recent commission discussing the long arms of various authoritarian regimes in Canada. However, we have not yet adequately covered the topic of the long arms of authoritarian regimes in unsafe third countries, and this presents a particular vulnerability. Such instances have devastating impacts on Canadians.
Indeed, while transnational repression on Canadian soil can be devastating in terms of its impact and consequences, autocrats can act even more boldly in regions that have less stringent rule of law safeguards. There are several examples of instances with a Canadian nexus. Some of the more particularly egregious examples are those involving kidnapping or illegal renditions.
Huseyin Celil, a Canadian citizen who has been arbitrarily detained in the PRC for almost 20 years now, first arrived in Canada in 2001 as a political refugee before becoming a Canadian citizen four years later. He was arrested by Uzbek police during his visit to Uzbekistan in March 2006 and was quietly handed over to Chinese authorities in June of that year.
The Iranian regime engages in this form of transnational repression as well, including through its proxies. Hamas’s kidnapping of Canadians from Israel to the Gaza strip is an example of this. Iris Weinstein, the daughter of Judih Weinstein Haggai—a Canadian who was taken hostage by Hamas last year—visited Parliament just earlier this month, urging the Canadian government to help bring her mother’s body home.
In 2021, Iran also attempted to kidnap Canadians directly from North America. U.S. authorities foiled the plot. The perpetrators planned to kidnap five targets, three of whom were residing in Canada, and forcibly transport them to Iran. Such a plot may well have been successful had it targeted individuals residing elsewhere. Iranian agents abducted German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd from a hotel in Dubai and forcibly returned him to Iran. His execution was reported by state-run media late last month.
Just five days ago, Israeli Moldovan rabbi, Zvi Kogan, disappeared and was murdered in Abu Dhabi. The perpetrators were Uzbeks, with emerging reports that they may have been hired by the IRGC.
Beyond China and Iran, Turkey engages in similar acts. The Kacmaz and Acar families, who are now residing in Canada, were kidnapped by Turkish authorities in Pakistan and Bahrain, respectively, and forcibly deported back to Turkey. They were detained, imprisoned and tortured before arriving in Canada.
In short, this is a threat posed by numerous dictatorships, and it is important that Canada develop strong policy to protect Canadians and their loved ones overseas from the long arms of autocrats.
What strong policy can be implemented? I don't have enough time here today to go into this with the detail that I would like, but, in short, there are numerous initiatives that I believe this committee can and should recommend the government undertake. I'll name just a few.
Travel advisories should be sufficiently updated.
Canada can develop clear policy and lead an international initiative on the provision of consular services to dual nationals, since that is a common challenge when dealing with countries like China and Iran, which do not recognize dual citizens.
As well, Bill C-353, which is before the foreign affairs committee today and Thursday, should be prioritized and passed into law, as this would enhance the government's tool kit to respond to some of these cases.
I'll leave it there, and I'll be happy to answer questions.
Thank you.