Today marks two years since the two Michaels were detained by China.
It’s also been ten long pandemic months since Canada’s ambassador to Beijing, Dominic Barton, made his previous appearance before the Commons subcommittee on Canada-China relations. Tuesday’s second round of that hearing showed how much the mood around China has changed during 2020.
Barton appeared conscious of the need to make some repairs to the impression he left in February, when his testimony drew unusually direct criticism from former diplomats with experience working in China.
Back then, Barton suggested that it was incumbent upon Canadians to recognize that “China values unity and the needs of society at large, rather than freedom of individual choice … we just have to understand that.”
Former diplomat and China expert Charles Burton told the subcommittee that Barton’s words parroted Communist Party propaganda asserting that Chinese culture is inherently averse to liberty and democracy — when in fact the aversion comes from Xi Jinping’s Politburo.
In his Tuesday appearance, however, Barton opened with remarks on “our efforts to promote rights and freedoms in China.”
“We are concerned by the decline of civil and political rights in China,” he told MPs.
Touring Tibet with eyes open
Barton began his appearance with a lengthy description of a recent visit to the Tibet Autonomous Region, which he toured in a party of foreign diplomats.
It was one of two closely-supervised Tibetan tours put on for mostly western diplomats this year, a sign that the Communist Party — bravado notwithstanding — still cares about what western countries say regarding its human rights record.
It may also have been an attempt to switch foreign attention to Tibet from the even more problematic neighbouring region of Xinjiang, where China’s heavy-handed persecution of the Muslim Uighur people is opening new fronts for confrontation with the West.
Indian paramilitary force soldiers push exile Tibetan activists into a police bus during a protest outside the Chinese Embassy, in New Delhi, India, Friday, March 9, 2018. (Manish Swarup/The Associated Press)
Barton said that he had consulted with pro-Tibet groups and academics in Canada before accepting the trip, which he said he undertook partly to show Tibetans the world was still concerned about their plight.
In addition to discussing what he’d seen on the tour — which took in a school, a monastery and greenhouses — Barton also talked about the motives of the Communist Party in allowing the trip. He said he understood that “what I saw was not the complete picture on any issue” and described one effort to escape his minders — when he left his hotel at 5 a.m. for an unaccompanied stroll through the streets of Lhasa.
Not so bullish now
Barton once famously described himself as “a bull on China” and his entire pre-diplomatic career was built on viewing China primarily as a business opportunity.
During his last committee appearance, Barton told members he “would love to talk more about promoting trade and investment. I probably should shut up and move on, but I’m very excited by the opportunity we have on many fronts.”
This time, he took his own advice and left out the economic boosterism — suggesting that the ambassador had not only learned to read the room but perhaps understood how the ground had shifted under him.
“Countries all around the world are evolving their approach to China,” he told the subcommittee Tuesday night.
That’s certainly true in Europe, where both public attitudes and government approaches to China have become considerably tougher over the course of 2020. Shachi Kurl of the Angus Reid Institute said Barton’s changed tone also reflects new realities at home.
“This isn’t just about Canada and Ambassador Barton aligning with the Western consensus,” she told CBC’s Power and Politics. “It really is about aligning with the Canadian consensus, because for several years we have seen a deterioration, and then a deterioration, and then a further deterioration in Canadian views of the Beijing regime.”
China’s image takes a beating
Opinion polls do show a crashing decline in China’s standing in Canadian public opinion, reaching what Kurl calls “an all-time low” as 2020 draws to a close.
“You now find among the Canadian population a bloody-mindedness that says, ‘You know what? This is not OK,'” she said. “This is about more than the human rights situation, this is about more than events in Hong Kong. What has really viscerally affected Canadians is the kidnapping of the two Michaels.”
Obviously, the detention of Kovrig and Spavor was always intended by Beijing to be a pressure tactic — not a play for hearts and minds. But it hasn’t worked as a pressure tactic and has instead backfired disastrously upon China’s public image.
People hold signs calling for China to release Canadian detainees Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig during an extradition hearing for Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou at the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, March 6, 2019. (Lindsey Wasson/Reuters)
Would the CCP judge the strategy wise in hindsight, or consider it a failure? Either way, the need to save face makes it hard for the Communist Party — famously averse to backing down on anything — to alter its course now.
During his committee appearance, Barton praised the two Canadians for their resilience, which he said was an inspiration to him.
Yes, he’s a citizen
Barton was eager to mend fences when asked about another Canadian detainee: Huseyin Celil, a Uighur rights activist from Burlington, Ont. who was snatched on behalf of Chinese authorities while visiting neighbouring Uzbekistan 14 years ago, whisked across the border and given a life sentence.
When asked about the case in February, Barton said he had not been able to visit Celil because Celil was not a Canadian citizen.
Once again, he was echoing a view espoused by the government of China, which has refused to recognize the fact that Celil has been a Canadian citizen since 2001. Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne was forced to correct the record in the House of Commons a few days after Barton’s misstatement.
Left: Huseyin Celil and one of his children. Right: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Prime Minister Trudeau (Twitter / CBC)
Two former ambassadors to China condemned Barton’s mischaracterization of Celil. “China doesn’t get to determine who is or becomes a Canadian citizen,” said David Mulroney, who represented Canada in Beijing from 2009 to 2012.
This time, Barton described the steps he had taken to reach out to the Celil family in the wake of that embarrassing incident.
There is still no sign of progress in Celil’s case, however. His detention differs from that of Kovrig and Spavor in that Celil was not seized as a bargaining chip to pressure Canada, and his case predates the Huawei dispute.
Instead, Celil’s detention intersects with another issue that has raised tensions between China and Canada — one that also came up in one of the tenser moments in this week’s meeting between Barton and MPs.
Mixed messaging on Uighurs
Conservative MP Garnett Genuis pressed Barton to make a clear statement on China’s suppression of its Uighur minority, who are concentrated in the far western Xinjiang region.
He read out the recent words of the Trudeau government’s newish ambassador to the UN, Bob Rae, who told CBC News “there’s no question that there’s aspects of what the Chinese are doing that fits into the definition of genocide in the genocide convention.”
Did Barton agree with that statement? The ambassador refused to be pinned down, saying that while the situation was “very, very concerning,” more reports from the area were needed.
Rights activists are particularly suspicious of Barton on this file because the company he headed, McKinsey, earned a reputation for indifference to Uighur suffering while eagerly promoting the Chinese government’s economic plans for their homeland.
Uighurs living in Turkey participate in a protest against oppression by the Chinese government of Muslim Uighurs in the far-western Xinjiang province. (AP Photo)
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
