OTTAWA — A federal unit that tracks foreign interference has identified what appeared to be a co-ordinated information campaign by Chinese state media outlets to control the domestic narrative around the return of the “two Michaels” to Canada.
Rapid Response Mechanism Canada found the effort also seemed intent on fostering confusion or doubt in Canada and internationally about what Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were doing in China before they were detained in late 2018.
The Canadian Press used the Access to Information Act to obtain the unit’s analysis of the September 2021 events, the latest window into a tense geopolitical drama that played out between Ottawa and Beijing over almost three years.
Several portions of the document, considered too sensitive to release, were blacked out.
Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, a senior executive of Chinese firm Huawei Technologies, in December 2018 at the request of the United States, where she faced charges related to American sanctions against Iran.
The move clearly angered Beijing, and two Canadians working in China — Kovrig and Spavor — were arrested soon after on accusations of endangering national security, a move widely seen as retaliation against Ottawa.
Kovrig and Spavor were both convicted of spying in 2021 in closed Chinese courts. Canada and many allies said the process amounted to arbitrary detention on bogus charges in an unaccountable justice system.
The U.S. worked out a deferred prosecution agreement in Meng’s case, allowing for her release, and Beijing permitted the two Michaels, as they came to be known, to fly home on Sept. 25.
A wide outpouring of relief from Canadians greeted their return. Typical of the sentiment was a tweet from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service: “CSIS joins all Canadians in welcoming you back to Canada.”
RRM Canada’s Sept. 28 analysis says it identified a narrative from Chinese state media outlets that claimed the two Michaels had “confessed their guilt,” were “granted bail for medical reasons” and that CSIS had inadvertently exposed them as Canadian spies.
The unit, based at Global Affairs Canada, produces open data analysis to chart trends, strategies and tactics in foreign interference. The efforts support the G7 RRM, an initiative to strengthen co-ordination to identify and respond to threats to the leading industrial democracies.
RRM Canada says it first detected the “two Michaels” narrative Sept. 26, when the Global Times, a state-owned media tabloid, published a long English-language article with the headline, “Two Canadians confess guilt, granted bail for medical reasons before leaving China: source.”
The RRM analysis notes the story said the two men were “released on bail,” “confessed to their crimes and wrote confession and repentance letters in their own handwriting,” and left China “in line with legal procedures.”
“The author adds that China’s suspicions are not unfounded and points to a recent tweet from CSIS that welcomed the two Michaels back to Canada.”
Meng walked out of a British Columbia court Sept. 24 after a judge agreed to a discharge order that withdrew the U.S. extradition request against her.
It followed her virtual appearance in a New York court, where she pleaded not guilty to all charges and a judge signed off on the deferred prosecution agreement.
At the time, Nicole Boeckmann, acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said that in entering into the deferred prosecution agreement, Meng had taken responsibility for her role in perpetrating a scheme to defraud a global financial institution.
Boeckmann said Meng’s admissions in a statement of facts confirmed that she made multiple material misrepresentations to a senior executive of a financial institution regarding Huawei’s business operations in Iran in an effort to preserve the firm’s banking relationship with the institution.
That same day, news accounts on Chinese social media platform WeChat reported that Meng would appear in U.S. and Canadian courts and could sign a deferred prosecution agreement that would allow her to return to China, the RRM analysis notes.
“Because the full details of the DPA were not clear, Canadian WeChat news accounts reported that she would plead guilty to charges or admit to wrongdoing in misleading a global financial institution,” the analysis says. “Chinese state media did not include any of this discussion or information in their official narratives of Meng’s release.”
In response, the RRM analysis says, most mentions of what Meng had agreed to in the deferred prosecution agreement were taken down.
WeChat users would see an error message from platform developer Tencent saying, “unable to view this content because it violates regulations.”
RRM notes that this sort of message appears only when Tencent or the Cyberspace Administration of China removes content from news accounts. However, it was unable to determine which one had taken the stories down.
The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa did not respond to a request for comment on the RRM Canada report.
The University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab says China has an expansive system of censorship that includes restrictions on the internet, applications and media. Internet platforms operating in China must follow local laws and regulations regarding content controls, the research lab says.
Fen Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University, suggested the Chinese actions concerning the online dialogue about the events of last September indicate a lack of finesse.
“This shows that they’re not very sophisticated and can be pretty ham-fisted at the same time,” said Hampson, co-author with Canadian Press reporter Mike Blanchfield of “The Two Michaels: Innocent Canadian Captives and High Stakes Espionage in the US-China Cyber War.”
“This is Chinese state censorship in motion.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2022.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
