A Canadian immigration tribunal has decided to deport a Chinese woman due to her work for a Beijing foreign interference agency. The ruling follows a 2022 federal court finding that exposed the agency’s involvement in espionage against Canada.
The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) ruled that Jing Zhang had worked for the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO), the external office of the United Front Work Department. This department is known for its involvement in foreign interference activities for the Chinese regime.
The IRB did not accuse Ms. Zhang of committing espionage but found that she had contributed to the communist regime’s efforts in transnational repression of overseas Chinese diaspora during her 11-year employment at the OCAO. Ms. Zhang, who has a law degree, denied being a member of OCAO, and attributed the allegations of her involvement to errors in translation. The OCAO had infiltrated Chinese-Canadian communities, including Falun Gong practitioners, Taiwanese, Uyghurs, and Canadian citizens of Chinese descent. Ms. Zhang had travelled abroad for business purposes up to four times a year, engaging with “target groups” both within China and in the diaspora.
The decision on Ms. Zhang’s deportation was issued in August 2023 but was only recently made public. The CBSA declined to provide details of Ms. Zhang’s deportation status, citing the need to protect individual privacy. In another former OCAO employee, Yong Zhang, was deemed inadmissible to Canada in 2022. The OCAO has engaged in covert action and intelligence against Chinese communities and has been the focus of an RCMP investigation.
The public inquiry launched on Jan. 29 is set to investigate foreign interference in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 federal elections, mainly attributed to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In the past year, the CCP and its affiliated individuals and entities have been accused of intimidating and targeting Canadian politicians and citizens.