Canada Trading Human Rights for Tourism Dollars?

As China’s communist leader Hu Jintao wraps up his first state visit to Canada with a stop in Vancouver Friday and Saturday, Canadian Tourism Commission officials and others in the government are hoping to finalize a deal that could bring 700 thousand Chinese tourists to Canada each year.

The deal would see Canada gain lucrative “Approved Destination Status,” or ADS, a designation that allows Chinese to travel to Canada more easily. Right now, only government officials, business people, and the very wealthy or well-connected Chinese are able to travel here.

While the influx of tourists could provide a giant boost to our nation’s tourism industry, some are concerned that Canada is compromising its stand on human rights and refugee rights in order to ink the deal with the Chinese.

Defecting Tourists Threaten Deal

According to a report in Sunday's Toronto Star, the Canadian Tourism Commission says that large numbers of Chinese travellers seeking asylum in other ADS-designated countries is a potential glitch to Canada being granted ADS.

Canada has traditionally been a safe haven for many Chinese refugees, including practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice that has been brutally persecuted by the Chinese regime since 1999.

Lucy Zhou, a spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Association of Canada, says she’s concerned Canada’s attitude towards protecting Falun Gong practitioners has been affected by pressures the Chinese are applying over trade deals.

Last month, Canada deported a Falun Gong practitioner to China for what supporters say was the first time. Hu Xiaoping, who had been detained in China in the past for her belief in Falun Gong, was found by Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board not to be a Falun Gong practitioner, a mistake Zhou attributes to Ms. Hu’s language barrier and unfamiliarity with the court process.

However, when the FDAC urgently called on Immigration Minister Joe Volpe and Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan to intervene, their requests fell on deaf ears. Ms. Hu’s deportation was kept a secret and was carried out while supporters were still appealing for her protection.

The deportation was criticized by Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International of Canada.

“Our government has not lived up to its responsibility,” Neve wrote in a statement. “Anyone who faces a risk of human rights abuses in China should be protected from that fate, not cavalierly sent back to harm […]”

Zhou says that Minister Volpe has not responded to requests for a meeting to discuss the matter.

Volpe, however, was part of a delegation greeting Chinese leader Hu Jintao in Toronto last weekend. In his speech, Volpe touted the tourism deal with the Chinese, saying he hoped a memorandum of understanding would be signed, and praising “the collaborative effort of our two governments.”

Prime Minister Says Falun Gong Safe

Prime Minister Paul Martin was quick to respond and say human rights are not being comprised in order to gain trade deals with China.

Speaking at a press conference at the United Nations in New York on Thursday, Martin told reporters “I can tell you that we are not in the process of deporting Falun Gong practitioners. And in fact I raised the issue of Falun Gong with President Hu. We had an extensive discussion […] We made it very clear that there are no trade-offs between human rights and commercial activities.”

Those are words that Fang Yaobin and his wife Xiong Fengying are anxiously hoping are true.

The British Columbia couple, both Falun Gong practitioners in their sixties, are slated to be deported at the end of this month. The Pre-Removal Risk Assessment carried out by the Ministry of Immigration found that the couple were indeed Falun Gong practitioners, and visible critics of the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses. However, it still ruled the couple would not be in danger if returned to China, a decision that flies in the face of dozens of other rulings across Canada over the last several years.

The decision also seems to contradict a notice posted on the Foreign Affairs Canada website, which states that Falun Gong has been banned in China and participants in Falun Gong activities could face “detention, deportation, arrest, and imprisonment."

Member of Parliament David Kilgour, the former Liberal Secretary of State for Asia, said that deporting the Fangs would be an embarrassment.

“Canada will be seen as… treating human beings as part of our trade with China,” Kilgour was quoted by CTV news. “In other words, you [refugee applicants] will be an export from Canada to China to somehow appease trade bureaucrats in our two governments.”

Zhou and other supporters are working quickly to try and stop the deportation of Mr. Fang and Ms. Xiong.

The Prime Minister, for his part, appeared genuinely unaware of their case, and of that of Hu Xiaoping’s.

“Human rights are a major issue and is something that in fact we all must support,” Martin said. “The point that I made was that given China’s increasing role that it will be playing in the world that in fact it is very important for China to be prepared to become a leader in the protection of human rights.”

If Mr. Martin is sincere, the Fangs and others like them can only hope that the other branches of the government follow suit.

Additional reporting by Caylan Ford in Calgary and Matt Gnaizda at the United Nations in New York.