By Canadian Press

Canadians who say they’ve been targeted by foreign agents want co-ordinated response

Nov 26, 2020 | 10:40 AM

OTTAWA — Canadians who say they have been victims of threats and intimidation by Chinese, Iranian and Russian foreign agents argue domestic police forces are ill-equipped to deal with their concerns.

They are calling on the federal government to establish a hotline for their complaints because they say they’ve been getting the runaround from Canadian law enforcement when they try to report death threats against themselves, or intimidation of their loved ones abroad.

That’s why they are backing a private member’s bill by Conservative MP Garnett Genuis that calls on the federal government to take stronger action against foreign interference, including creating a new single point of contact to report it.

Genuis was following up on his party’s successful motion in the House of Commons last week to compel the Liberal government to take a harder line against national security threats from China.

He assembled four people via video link to a Parliament Hill press conference today, where they gave harrowing accounts of threats and harassment from foreign agents operating on Canadian soil.

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They included members of Canada’s Tibetan and Uighur communities, a man whose wife was killed in Iran’s Jan. 8 shootdown of a Ukrainian Airlines passenger jet and a Canadian filmmaker and journalist who specializes in Russia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2020.

The Canadian Press