Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you. I'll reiterate the importance of Canada actually showing China and Hong Kong that there are consequences for their human rights violations. First of all, on sanctions, as I've mentioned time and time again, we need to show them that they cannot get away with putting people in prison for made-up reasons in a lot of the cases, and in other cases, where they're exercising rights that they have, in the case of Hong Kong.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you for the question. On the immigration front, a barrier that lots of Hong Kongers have faced, who are newly released from prison, or who have been charged but then not convicted, is the requirement for a police certificate. This is an issue, because when you ask the Hong Kong police for a police certificate, it is signalling to them that you are planning to leave the territory.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We've used sanctions against other human rights violators. We should do the same for Hong Kong.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you for the question. I have here with me a list of four Hong Kong officials who hold property in Canada and who are directly involved in either supporting or implementing the national security law. First I have Wong Kam-sing, the secretary of the environment. He currently owns a property along with his wife in Vancouver.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you for the question. Yes, one hundred per cent. Definitely I've heard cases first hand. I've talked to people in the community who have told me that after attending even community events with the name “Hong Konger” in them, people showed up outside their home and took photos of them.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The Government of Canada, as of today, has not called for the release of Jimmy Lai. Global Affairs has stated that it's monitoring the trials, but that's not enough. We need to take a firm stance and condemn the political persecution, which can hardly be described as a trial. What is happening to Jimmy Lai is blatant political persecution and suppression of fundamental freedoms.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think a step that the Government of Canada must take is to sanction Hong Kong officials. We have a Magnitsky sanctions regime, but we haven't used it at all on China. I don't know why we haven't. The U.S. has sanctioned 25 officials, and it is important that we do the same. People like the chief executive of Hong Kong, John Lee, are directly complicit in the human rights violations that are happening, including towards Jimmy Lai, and people who are tortured to extract a certain statement from them, etc.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you Mr. Chair. My name is Katherine Leung, and I am the policy adviser for Hong Kong Watch Canada. I appear before this committee today with a central message, asking Canada to call for the unconditional and immediate release of 76-year-old Jimmy Lai, the founder of Apple Daily, which was previously the most prominent pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. I believe it would be good for the government to consult with the families of the detained before publishing the list. We have heard from some Hong Kongers that they would rather not have their names be public. Family members, especially, who may be living in Canada would also say the same thing, because the treatment of political prisoners in Hong Kong is very bad, to say it bluntly.

Foreign Affairs committee  If I may add to that, I do believe it is a good idea to publish the rationale behind it. In Hong Kong especially, many political prisoners have been charged under what may seem to be legitimate charges in countries with the rule of law. For example, a lot of protesters were charged with possession of a dangerous weapon, when they were only carrying, for example, an umbrella or a flashlight.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. Both amendments would be agreeable to me. I don't see why there cannot be a human rights strategy from the government. We have seen a lot of different statements of concern and mandate letters, etc., from the government, without a solid human rights strategy. I think that would be helpful, especially for NGOs like Hong Kong Watch that are advocating for human rights.

Foreign Affairs committee  In terms of outcome, it is difficult to tell currently because we don't really have enough cases to compare them, in my opinion. We have seen a lot of sanctions under SEMA, but really not that many under the Magnitsky act. I think it's difficult to tell at this moment.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. I believe there's always a risk of foreign officials wanting to move their assets, but we do know right now that foreign officials from China and Hong Kong store their assets overseas because of the likelihood that Xi Jinping will do another corruption crackdown.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Genuis. It has been spoken about explicitly by Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang that overseas Chinese are a tool that they wish to use in exerting Chinese influence abroad. The way that this becomes interference instead of simple influence is that these overseas Chinese populations are fed misinformation, disinformation and propaganda directly through CGTN on Canadian airwaves.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Katherine Leung, and I am the policy adviser for Hong Kong Watch in Canada. Hong Kong Watch supports the heart of Bill C-281, which would make it easier for parliamentarians to recommend foreign officials who should be included on a sanctions list, including those guilty of the ongoing human rights crackdown in Hong Kong.