The News Rundown

Two months ago. That was Western Context 290, where we discussed a story talking about the Chinese Communist government setting up police stations around the world, including in Canada, in order to monitor and 'correct' the activities of the Chinese diaspora around the world. Somehow the story was covered in a few outlets, and then promptly ignored, even though the idea of a foreign power operating so blatantly and overtly in Canada should have been headline news and a major embarrassment for the federal government.
However, since then there has been little focus on the matter. Safeguard Defenders, the Spanish-based civil rights group that originally investigated and found at least 54 Chinese police stations around the world in September, has released a follow up this week that has uncovered another 48, bringing the total to 102 in 53 countries.
The two most recent stations uncovered in Canada, including the Vancouver station and another in an unknown location, add to the three stations the group allegedly located in Toronto and currently under investigation by the RCMP.
The report looked into how these police stations function under a “persuasion of return” strategy using intimidation and threats to enforce the “involuntary” return of immigrants back to China for persecution. The group claimed that between April 2021 and July 2022, Chinese police “persuaded” 230,000 claimed fugitives to return to China.
The report said the newly documented Vancouver-based police station is being operated by authorities from Wenzhou in China’s Zhejiang province. No one from the Chinese Embassy was immediately available for comment on the new information, but it has previously described the offices as volunteer-run service stations to process things like driver's licences.
However, Safeguard Defenders alleges the stations are involved in "persuasion to return" operations. The group says evidence shows individuals connected to these stations have been involved in persuading nationals suspected of committing crimes to return to China to face criminal proceedings.
The Chinese government has also previously claimed that the stations were only set up to help Chinese nationals living overseas during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Safeguard Defenders claims the vast majority of the 48 newly documented stations were set up in 2016.
In September, the RCMP declared it was investigating the Toronto-based stations for "reports of criminal activity in relation to the so-called 'police' stations." The RCMP also said it takes "threats to the security of individuals living in Canada very seriously and is aware that foreign states may seek to intimidate or harm communities or individuals within Canada."
Victor Ho, the former editor of the Sing Tao Daily – Canada’s largest Chinese-Canadian newspaper – and a Hong Kong democracy activist, said he was not surprised to hear the news and it has created a lot of insecurity in the Chinese-Canadian community.
Ho said: “[It doesn't] matter [if they're] from Hong Kong, from the mainland, from Taiwan, even from Singapore or Malaysia because their human security will be jeopardized by this so-called police station. It deals with not only with mainlanders but with overseas Chinese (people). You may be subject to be criticized or selected by these so-called police stations (and they could) harass you or come to your office to make known their presence.”
Ho said this is a very dangerous scenario and sends a message that the Chinese government doesn’t honour any international law. “[W]ith this Chinese policing station, they are a kind of hidden police authority but without consent of local government. So it also violates policing sovereignty here.”
Someone who may be a target of these Chinese police operations would be someone who is an economic fugitive or political dissident. Someone who is vocal about their opposition to the Chinese Communist Party would also be at risk.
Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Melanie Joly, told reporters recently that 2022 has revealed that the tectonic plates of the world power structures are moving, and called China an 'increasingly disruptive global power'. However, 2022 has not been the start of this movement, as China has had these global ambitions in the works for a long time. Anyone who has studied 20th and 21st century Chinese history knows that their government works on decades long plans, and that we need to remember that this month is the 4 year anniversary of the Chinese government arresting and jailing the Two Michaels, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor under dubious circumstances in response to the detainment of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou.
The fact that nobody has responded to the follow up report, either from the RCMP, the PMO, or even the Chinese Embassy with their clearly false excuses, is deplorable. The fact that a foreign power can operate these stations in Canada, seemingly without impunity, and that we do not know what follow-up actions are being taken, means that this issue seems to be swept under the rug. It's important that people know about what's happening in Canada, and how the problems are going to be fixed, and not talking about them does not mean they will just go away.
Supplementals:

This week the media and the NDP were making hay over the quick passage of the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act.
The real story is the continued pressure of the fall virus season of the triple whammy of RSV, the flu, and COVID.
As such there has been a shortage of children’s pain and fever relief medications across the country.
Alberta fixed that problem.
But while news of this being fixed was slipping away, the Sovereignty Act was passed early in the morning.
According to the media and the opposition, it was a Bill that needed to be stopped.
But at 1:01am Thursday, 7 or about a third of the NDP opposition actually showed up to vote against the Bill.
The NDP has 23 caucus members presently and only 7 of them were present to vote against this Bill.
7.
File footage showed a full NDP caucus but the Hansard shows what really took place.
This was the main story of the week in the media and, well, the opposition didn’t even muster a full caucus vote on third and final reading.
The real story of the week was the fact that Alberta secured 5 million bottles of children’s pain and fever medication.
This was an acquisition made by Alberta Health Services which in the past has been commended for leading the continent in securing the necessary supplies for viral testing.
Going forward after approval it will only be a couple weeks and then the medication will be distributed to pharmacies in Alberta.
Alberta then plans to share the surplus with others across the country.
The province is paying higher than sticker price and is subsidizing the cost so that pharmacies can sell them at market value.
There is also another option on the table for parents: ask a pharmacy to make child-grade medication from raw acetaminophen or ibuprofen.
The pharmacists can take the constituent components and distill them into child dosage through a liquid medium.
This story also should raise eyebrows because across the country, as many as 800 drugs are in short supply including 23 that are considered critical.
This can be chalked up to supply chain issues, government not lining contracts up correctly, or as many would expect, just an increase in demand.
What has been exposed here is a web of junk from the media obscuring at least 2 or 3 other important stories.
From the media’s sole focus of the Sovereignty Act to missing a Health Committee meeting this week regarding critical drug shortages, questions have to be asked and we’ve only begun to scratch the surface.
This should raise the eyebrows of every Canadian in terms of ensuring we get the drugs we need and that the upcoming Alberta election will be covered fairly and thoroughly.
It appears as though through Alberta’s actions we have uncovered more than one other problem both in our province and our country.

Former paralympian tells MPs veterans department offered her assisted death

A news story appeared last week, but has since received a ton of international coverage, including the US, UK and other countries around the world, and has embarrassed Canada on the world stage. A paraplegic former member of the Canadian military shocked MPs last week by testifying that the Department of Veterans Affairs offered her, in writing, the opportunity for a medically assisted death — and even offered to provide the equipment.
Retired corporal Christine Gauthier, who competed for Canada at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics and the Invictus Games that same year, spoke before the House of Commons veterans committee and agreed to provide a copy of the letter. Testifying in French, she said she has been fighting for a home wheelchair ramp for five years. In response, she said that the Department of Veterans Affairs said that if she was 'so desperate' that the department could offer MAID, or medical assistance in dying.
Gauthier said the offer for MAID came during a phone call with a VAC case worker where she was describing her deteriorating condition. In 1989, Gauthier suffered permanent damage to her knees and spine after jumping in a deep hole while training on an obstacle course.
She said that the fight to get a wheelchair ramp installed at her house: "was just getting too much and unbearable. And the person at VAC mentioned at that point, 'Well, you know that we can assist you with assisted dying now if you'd like.' And I was just shocked because I was like, 'Are you serious?' Like that easy, you're going to be helping me to die but you won't help me to live?" she said.
In Justin Trudeau's defence, he quickly called the report of what happened to Gauthier "absolutely unacceptable" and said the government took action the moment it heard of other cases. He said: "We are following up with investigations and we are changing protocols to ensure what should seem obvious to all of us: that it is not the place of Veterans Affairs Canada, who are supposed to be there to support those people who stepped up to serve their country, to offer them medical assistance in dying."
Veterans Minister Lawrence MacAulay revealed last week in testimony before the same committee that four — perhaps five — cases of Canadian military veterans being given the MAID option by a now-suspended veterans service agent have been referred to the RCMP.
MacAulay said: "We remain confident that this is all related to one single employee, and it's not a widespread or a systemic issue," MacAulay told the committee last week.
However, the problem still exists. Another veteran who testified Thursday, retired corporal Bruce Moncur, said that at a meeting two weeks ago, a deputy minister at the department tried to assure an advisory committee that includes veterans that what they were facing was an isolated incident.
Moncur said: "Five days later, we found out through the media that that was all lies. So we're having, literally, an assistant deputy minister lying to veterans faces five days before the truth comes out. So, I said, it's disheartening to say the least."
At last week's committee meeting, Conservative MP Blake Richards asked MacAulay about a veteran who came forward on the podcast Tango Romeo about being offered MAID in November 2021. MacAulay told the committee the story described on the podcast was not one of the four confirmed instances, suggesting that there may be more veterans who have been offered MAID.
Trudeau tried reassurance, saying the employees in question no longer have contact with veterans. He also acknowledged that these cases fit within a larger debate over the expansion of medically-assisted dying in Canada to include those with mental illness. That could become an option next spring.
Trudeau said: "The issue of medical assistance in dying is a deeply personal, extraordinarily difficult choice that individuals and families need to make in the most thoughtful and best supported way possible. We understand that making sure we are respecting people's rights and their choices, at the same time as we protect the most vulnerable, is a very important but challenging balance to establish."
A challenging balance is indeed the case. There are already news reports of people wanting to choose the medical assistance in dying option because they're poor and unable to get ahead in life, or even simply because they cannot access healthcare. Oftentimes it is quicker to get a response for medical assistance in dying than it is for healthcare services to allow someone to live. This is unacceptable, and it's clear more than ever that Canada's healthcare system is in total crisis. If governmental departments are offering to kill people rather than take care of them, as governments should, then this government has entirely lost its way and must be given the chance to change so that a new government can fix the issues properly.
Supplementals:

https://globalnews.ca/news/9321582/veterans-affairs-maid-cases-trudeau/
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/paralympian-trying-to-get-wheelchair-ramp-says-veterans-affairs-employee-offered-her-assisted-dying-1.6179325

Firing Line

‘Potential culture clash’: Some northerners critical of federal firearms bill

The consistent push of the Trudeau government to ban guns has been detailed here on the podcast in the past.
From initially banning weapons through an order in council (executive order) that banned weapons as crazy as rocket launchers and anti-tank guns to the most recent Bill C-21 that bans guns in legislation.
The initial selling pitch on these bans was to ban “assault-style firearms.”
Thankfully for the Trudeau government, the media is ignorant when it comes to guns.
And the definition of an “assault-style firearm” is broad and different person to person.
An assault style firearm is a military-based fully automatic firearm that an officer in the military might use.
A semi automatic firearm is one where the trigger must be squeezed for each shot.
Most fully automatic (true assault weapons) are banned in Canada.
Hunting rifles and guns used for sport in our country are semi-automatic at best, some even have to be loaded for each independent shot.
Western provinces including Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have been against the ban from the beginning but this week more opposition to the ban appeared.
Hunters and trappers from the northern territories have even voiced opposition this week.
Jimmy Kalinek, an Inuvialuit hunter in Inuvik, N.W.T., said he feels the proposed changes are “an overreach from the government.” He said, “my first thought was that’s just ridiculous… A gun is just a gun. It takes a person to use it for violence, to kill people.”
Lori Idlout, NDP MP for Nunavut said, “Rifles are not just for hunting, they ensure our safety from predatory animals, such as polar bears. There is still time to make this right and we will keep working to make sure any amendments to the bill will not ban guns primarily used for hunting and for the safety of northerners. We will not support any amendments that disrespect treaty rights and the rights of Indigenous peoples.”
This highlights a division with the official line of the NDP and the true realities in Canada’s north.
Liberal NWT MP Michael McLeod said he’s happy with most of the Bill but wants the Bill to be revisited.
Liberal Yukon MP Brendan Hanley said he’s heard from hunters, Indigenous leaders, and outfitters who had concerns about the bill: “I’m working with my rural colleagues, I’m working with my fellow MPs on this and the minister and his staff, and I’m confident that we can make some progress.”
He also added, "I'm not happy with this [bill], and I'm not in a position to support this bill at this point with those amendments in play.”
These are MPs of the government and the government’s confidence and supply partner, the NDP.
Chiefs and proxies in attendance of the Assembly of First Nations’ (AFN) special chiefs assembly passed an “emergency resolution” that opposes the Bill.
In particular the concern is that the Bill as is, would criminalize long guns and infringe on First Nations and Treaty Rights to hunt and harvest.
The government is being criticized for not doing proper consultations with First Nations.
"Our young hunters that are growing up, they just don't send them up to the bush with a gun. There's a whole process that has to do with our customs, our values, our traditions… No government has a right to take that away from us and regulate that. That is our job as mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, and hunters.“ said Chief Tammy Cook of Lac La Ronge Band in Saskatchewan.
The media led Canadians to believe that all of Canada was in support of the Bill but that’s clearly not the case.
The reason for that assumption is that our government governs with the sole focus of downtown Toronto, Montreal, and sometimes Vancouver.
The media also is biased in its coverage with reporters and producers from those regions.
And in a final note of [hubris or idiocy?] the government decided to pass Bill C-21 on the 33rd anniversary of the Ecole Polytechnique shooting in Montreal once again wedging so many slices of Canadians against one another.
In context, that would be like Prime Minister Pearson using the events of something in the Depression to pass legislation.
Supplementals:

Quote of the Week

"Our young hunters that are growing up, they just don't send them up to the bush with a gun. There's a whole process that has to do with our customs, our values, our traditions… No government has a right to take that away from us and regulate that. That is our job as mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, and hunters.“ - Chief Tammy Cook of Lac La Ronge Band in Saskatchewan on Bill C-21 amendments.

Word of the Week

Hubris - Excessive pride or self-confidence

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Show Data

Episode Title: A Challenging Balance

Teaser: A new report uncovers a Chinese ‘police station’ in Vancouver, Alberta secures children’s pain medication, and Veteran Affairs offers medical assistance in dying to veterans. Also, First Nations and northern MPs speak out against Trudeau’s gun ban bill.

Recorded Date: December 10, 2022

Release Date: December 11, 2022

Duration: 50:01

Edit Notes: None

Podcast Summary Notes

Duration: XX:XX