Source:
https://scmp.com/article/656046/familys-public-face-private-torment

A family's public face on a private torment

Vancouver

Stuck on the headboard of Amanda Zhao's bed was a written reminder of the struggle she faced to make up for the sacrifices her Chinese parents had made to send her to Canada.

'I should work hard and earn money so that mum can have a better life,' the note said. It's easy to picture the 21-year-old English-language student waking to that motto daily.

The note was among the items police recovered from the basement apartment where Zhao lived until she disappeared in October 2002. Eleven days after her boyfriend Ang Li reported her missing, Zhao's body was found stuffed in a suitcase.

At the time, Li tearfully told reporters that he blamed himself for letting her go grocery shopping alone. But from the start, Li was under police suspicion. After Zhao's remains were found, police learned that Li was heading to the airport, and officers rushed there to talk to the boyfriend again. After concluding there was not enough evidence to charge him, they helped him board a plane for Beijing.

Now, on the sixth anniversary of Zhao's death, her parents, Yang Baoying and Zhao Zishen, have arrived in Canada to put a public face on their private torment.

'I still think of her every night,' Mr Zhao said tearfully. 'Canada bullies helpless old people like us.'

Fate has been unrelentingly unkind to Zhao's family.

After suffering crippling debt to fund their only child's education in Canada, Ms Yang and Mr Zhao have lost their home in Beijing, as well as their daughter.

Under the sponsorship of Canada's left-of-centre New Democratic Party, the couple arrived in Vancouver last week. Local agencies helped pay for the flight.

What brought Zhao's parents to Canada is a last-ditch attempt to bring attention to their desperate situation. While the NDP has taken up their fight, the truth is the party doesn't have the stature of being in official opposition nor does it have any hope in tomorrow's federal election of forming the government.

In a tight election campaign in which all parties have been wooing immigrant communities, the arrival of Zhao's parents has put some pressure on the government. But at the same time, the government is at a functional standstill.

A few months after Li fled, he was charged with Zhao's murder, but he remains safely in China, which has no extradition treaty with Canada. There he has remained for the past six years.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police met the family and Chief Superintendent Dick Bent expressed his sorrow to the parents for the errors that led to Li's continued freedom.

The only possibility left for the family is to have the Chinese government try Li in China for the murder - but that option has been delayed as Canadian departments dither on who should take charge of the sensitive request.

Mr Bent did have some good news. He told them the RCMP would head to China in two weeks to present evidence to Chinese authorities against Li.

'It's a very difficult situation for the family. They haven't had any news, they want answers,' said Chief Superintendent Bent, adding that he assured the family the RCMP had not given up trying to get the case heard in China.

A meeting of the family with Canada's foreign affairs minister was cancelled at the last minute.

One reason for the delays is Canada's position against capital punishment.

To Ms Yang, the death penalty is a matter for bureaucrats.

'Death for everyone is just a matter of time. What I really want is to see my daughter again,' she said.

Tomorrow: New York