My Take | Fear and loathing of Chinese diaspora exposed in Canadian inquiry

Hong Kong-Canadians are making a splash in the country’s political scene lately. There was the “Go back to Hong Kong” racist rant in Richmond, Vancouver, about a drug centre for addicts.

Now, Canadian Friends of Hong Kong, a group composed of mostly former residents of the city committed against the Chinese Communist Party, has loudly publicised their withdrawal from an independent inquiry into foreign government meddling by the Foreign Interference Commission authorised by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Hearings started late last month.

They follow a similar pull-out by the Uygur Rights Advocacy Project. Both groups have cited safety concerns for themselves, their associates and their families in China because of the participation of three ethnic Chinese-Canadian politicians in the inquiry.

Their concerns, shared by some in the opposition such as those from the Conservative Party, are triply ironic.

First, those three politicians have had to face unfair, unproven or discredited accusations, mostly levelled by some news outlets, of being too close to the Chinese communist government. They deserve far greater legal standing in the inquiry than other groups with special interests.

Second, the previous special rapporteur David Johnston, now retired, filed his findings on foreign interference last year and argued against setting up such an inquiry – precisely because most information obtained from the hearings would be top-secret and must not be revealed to the public without security clearance.