Falun Gong rallies in Toronto focus on transnational repression: street harassment, family pressure and false bomb threats into the same security issue

On September 19, a rally and parade was held in Queen's Park in Toronto, Canada, attended by Falun Gong practitioners and supporters, focusing on the multinational repression alleged by the Chinese government in Canada.News on the site on September 20.Participants spoke about experiences of surveillance, insult, disruption and other events in the vicinity of Chinese consulates, in public places and in the community; the Canadian Times on the same event that there were hundreds of participants on the scene. Both sources expressed different numbers, but both confirmed that the event was held in Toronto on September 19 and the core appeal was concerned about harassment abroad and freedom of belief.

Behind the street rally is a security issue that has been publicly confirmed by Canadian officials.

Foreign intervention assessment released by the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency in SeptemberListing the People's Republic of China as the country with the most active scale and scope of foreign intervention activities in Canada, and judging that Beijing is "almost certain" that it will continue to carry out transnational repression. The agency listed means include surveillance, harassment, intimidation, visa control, and pressure on foreign targets by punishing relatives still in China. In other words, the phenomena described by the participants of the Toronto gathering, such as "blocking" and "family pressure", are not only present in the group's own narrative, and Canadian intelligence agencies have incorporated similar patterns into national security assessments.

Maria Cheung, Honorary Professor at the University of Manitoba, said at the gathering that some overseas activists would find relatives in China being met after public speeches; she viewed this practice of using family relations to create pressure as part of transnational repression. She also suggested that people who have been monitored or harassed retain images and time records in order to form a chain of evidence available for use by law enforcement and policy agencies. Her speech belongs to the scene view, but the model described as "pressing overseas people by relatives in the country" corresponds to the risk description in the information published by Canadian intelligence agencies.

Several Falun Gong practitioners on the scene also told about their experiences of being insulted, photographed, tear-breaking boards, or dropping their phones when they spread information near the Chinese consulate and the city hall in Toronto.Final Report of Canada's Open Foreign Intervention InvestigationStatements from Falun Gong, Uighurs, Tibet and other communities, including interference, threats, surveillance, and pressure on overseas relatives, are recorded in public investigations and are presented as community testimony, which does not mean that each individual case has completed criminal accountability.

This distinction is important: transnational repression is a pattern of behavior that can be identified by security agencies, but whether a particular conflict is directly linked to Chinese foreign institutions or national security systems still requires police investigation, communication records, funding chains or other evidence to be confirmed.

From street harassment to bomb threats, the cost of intimidation is transferred to Canadian public agencies

From March to April this year, the Shrimp’s four-season performances at the Art Center in Toronto were affected by multiple bomb threats.Canadian media reports about the threat of a torrent bombThe Toronto police said on March 29 that the threat was unfounded and that the Four Seasons Performing Arts Center cancelled several performances on security grounds.The police said at the same time that the source of the threat was not yet determined, so it is not possible to directly blame the Chinese government for the threat content alone.

But this series of threats is not isolated.Global News investigates similar threats in VancouverReportedly, email threats against the Vancouver Rhythm show in April this year also demanded cancellation of the show, and Vancouver police cybercriminals discovered that the phone number associated with the mailbox was located in China.

For Canada, the key question is not just whether a group is harassed, but whether actors abroad can actually change the behavior of Canadians participating in gatherings, performances or public discussions in their country through surveillance, intimidation, false security threats or pressure on domestic relatives.

The Canadian government has included China’s multinational repression in its security agenda.

Canadian Foreign Ministry submitted documents to Parliament in FebruaryChina will use domestic families to put pressure on Canadian target persons and monitor, track and report on foreign actors; the material also says that Canada has raised concerns to China about foreign interference, transnational repression, malicious cyber activities and information manipulation.This shows that the issue of transnational repression has long been complaining from overseas agencies and has entered the official diplomatic and national security agenda of the Canadian government.

The value of the September 19th Toronto gathering is also in bringing the highly abstract concept of “foreign intervention” back to concrete life scenes: fears of being photographed outside the consulate, fears of domestic families being pressured after the speech, shows stopping because of threats, and police and theaters having to bear the cost of censorship. Regardless of who the case ends up blaming, these events have shown that foreign political pressure can have real consequences in a democratic society through low-cost harassment and intimidation.

Further investigations into these cases should rely on verifiable evidence of communications, networks, funds and organizational relationships. Official evidence has been available to confirm that China’s government-related multinational repression is a long-standing concern for Canada’s security sector; and whether any new specific event enters the chain of responsibility should still be determined by evidence. For affected communities, public recording, alerting and preserving original material is a key step in turning “feelings of harassment” into facts that can be handled by the justice and security systems.