Mr. Chair, I have witnessed Beijing's influence in Canadian academia and the research sector, having heard through ACHK from these concerned community members, and also through my own observations as a graduate student in the sociology and anthropology department at Carleton University.
On the surface, the soft sciences may not directly contribute to Beijing's technological and military ambitions, but what we're seeing is the Chinese party state weaving other regime security objectives such as elite capture, censorship, disinformation and narrative discursion into these areas.
I'd like to stress this important point: While Chinese interference is gaining significant scrutiny in Canada, Beijing will not be the only foreign principal interested in Canadian research. We must create country-agnostic solutions to address vulnerabilities in academia.
Whether they are domestic or international students, Tibetans, Uyghurs, Chinese, Taiwanese and Hong Kongers are experiencing transnational surveillance and fear of reprisal on university campuses. International students have also expressed their concerns that embassies, consulates and their home governments might revoke study permits or scholarships for unfavourable views, actions or inactions.
Academic freedom requires ongoing work to proactively adapt to and meet new challenges as they arise. Canada must strengthen its academic and research environment, which will require whole-of-society collaboration with universities, research institutions, the private sector and student unions. When collaborating with individuals outside of Canada, we must also consider the risk and the intention of our international partners.
Stronger privacy and data protection laws can prevent Canadians' sensitive data from being transferred, exported or sold to foreign actors, and can encourage Canadian universities and research institutions to keep university servers and research data in Canada, as well as to implement stronger cybersecurity measures and policies on campus.
I strongly encourage the committee to review Alliance Canada Hong Kong's previous report, “In Plain Sight”, particularly the chapter “Academic Influence and Vulnerability of Intellectual Property Transfer”.