SENATORS’ STATEMENTS — Report of The Jamestown Foundation
March 11, 2026
Honourable senators, I want to alert you to a serious foreign disinformation and interference threat to our country. The Jamestown Foundation, a U.S. think tank, has put out a report that claims to have identified more than 575 organizations in Canada that are part of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, or UFWD.
The report provided only a few examples of the Canadian groups it claims to have identified. Based on the evidence presented in the report, activities such as celebrating Chinese culture, promoting Canada-China trade and generally representing Chinese-Canadian communities are treated as evidence of co-optation by the Chinese government.
It is part of a broader narrative in which anything short of opposition to China is treated as evidence of loyalty to Beijing and, therefore, contrary to Canadian interests.
The Jamestown Foundation did not make public the list of 575 organizations, which has the effect of casting suspicion on all Chinese-Canadian organizations and inviting discrimination and stigmatization against every one of them.
The Jamestown Foundation report even listed Liberal and Conservative political associations of Chinese Canadians as Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, United Front organizations without explanation. This is particularly harmful and dangerous for Chinese Canadians who want to participate in the country’s democracy through party politics. It is a form of voter suppression targeted at one community.
The danger of this report is profound. If taken seriously, it will lead to systemic discrimination against Chinese Canadians who are deemed to have the wrong views or wrong affiliations. It would be a modern incarnation of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923.
It is bad enough that foreign entities are sowing disinformation and interfering in our democracy. What is worse is that Canadians, including parliamentarians, are aiding and abetting these harmful acts.
You might think that these folks would have to register with the foreign influence transparency registry, but the registry appears to exclude non-state actors which, to my mind, are the biggest and most dangerous source of disinformation and interference in Canada today.
Some of you will be inclined to take The Jamestown Foundation report at face value. Let me be clear: If you have evidence that laws have been broken, report it to the authorities, but if you suspect a Chinese-Canadian organization is a malign foreign agent for the Chinese government simply because it celebrates Chinese culture, promotes trade and investment, has ties with Chinese organizations or agrees with some of the positions of Beijing, you are promoting a modern form of Chinese exclusion.
We marked 100 years since the Chinese Exclusion Act in 2023. Today, we are seeing a modern form of exclusion creep back into Canadian society, and it is because many Canadians in leadership positions are giving oxygen to this racist outlook.
