Sixty-five members of Canada’s Parliament and Senate have issued a joint statement strongly condemning the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its 26-year persecution of Falun Gong and its expanding campaign of transnational repression. The lawmakers also expressed concern over Beijing’s harassment of Shen Yun Performing Arts and called for unified government action to defend Canada’s sovereignty and democracy.
According to the Falun Dafa Information Center, between March 2024 and Oct. 16, 2025, there were at least 193 incidents of anonymous death threats targeting Falun Gong practitioners or individuals falsely impersonating them. From Oct. 1 to 16 alone, Falun Gong-related organizations — and even the residence of the U.S. president — came under a wave of harassment and cyberattacks, signaling Beijing’s escalating cross-border intimidation campaign.
Piero Tozzi, deputy chief of staff at the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), described these incidents as “state-level acts of terrorism” directed by the CCP. He said they reflect Beijing’s “unrestricted warfare” against civil society worldwide, particularly Falun Gong and Shen Yun.
MP Judy Sgro: Stand firm, do not yield to intimidation
Veteran Liberal MP and former Immigration Minister Judy Sgro, chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong, condemned Beijing’s suppression of Shen Yun as “acts of terror” that must be resisted.
“Shen Yun is a beautiful artistic performance, yet it faces threats and harassment preventing Canadians from enjoying it. We cannot tolerate this,” Sgro said.
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Since Xi Jinping ordered an escalation of overseas repression in 2022, the CCP has intensified efforts to intimidate Falun Gong adherents and disrupt Shen Yun. Evidence in the U.S. shows attempts to bribe officials, manipulate media, and stage more than 100 bomb threats and online smear operations.
In Canada, theaters in Vancouver, Montreal, Mississauga, and Kitchener received emailed threats of bombings and mass shootings, while a Shen Yun show in Calgary was disrupted — mirroring global patterns of coordinated intimidation.
Sgro urged national unity in response: “We’ve seen transnational repression occurring in many countries, orchestrated by China. Canada must stand firm together against it.”
Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government for failing to address Beijing’s influence operations.
“Transnational repression has existed in Canada for years, and the Liberals have done little to stop it,” she said. “These are the tools of a brutal communist dictatorship reaching across borders to silence free voices.”
Lantsman, a long-time advocate for human rights in Hong Kong and among Falun Gong practitioners, warned that Beijing’s reach extends deep into Canada’s institutions.
According to a 2021 report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the CCP is the primary foreign actor conducting influence operations in Canada — targeting government institutions, media, academia, dissidents, and the Chinese-Canadian community. The report also warned that Beijing sought to interfere in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
“We will root out institutional corruption. Beijing’s agents are far too close to our government and Parliament,” Lantsman stated.
Senator Michael MacDonald: Sovereignty must be defended
Canadian Senator Michael L. MacDonald spoke from the perspective of national sovereignty: “Canada is a sovereign nation, and that sovereignty must be respected. We are open and inclusive, but we will not allow any government to interfere with our democratic institutions. We will remain vigilant and fight back. I believe that, in the end, we will prevail.”
MacDonald’s remarks underscore the global nature of Beijing’s transnational repression. From the Kennedy Center incidents in the United States to bomb threats against Canadian theaters, the CCP has expanded its so-called “unrestricted warfare” — combining diplomatic pressure, disinformation, legal warfare, and violent intimidation.
Shen Yun Performing Arts, which seeks to revive China’s divinely inspired culture destroyed under Communist rule, has toured globally since 2006, performing hundreds of shows each year to audiences of millions. Yet its productions have become a prime target of Beijing’s overseas repression precisely because they expose the persecution of Falun Gong.
In the latest wave of threats in October, attackers impersonated Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi in messages threatening to shoot Shen Yun staff at the company’s headquarters. The emails, sent from addresses spoofed to resemble The Epoch Times, reveal an escalating pattern of identity fabrication and infiltration linked to Beijing’s state-directed operations.
Conservative MP James Bezan introduced Bill C-219, a private member’s bill to strengthen Canada’s response to transnational repression. The legislation amends the Special Economic Measures Act and the Magnitsky Act to impose sanctions on foreign officials and agents engaged in harassment or intimidation on Canadian soil.
Bezan explained at an Oct. 22 roundtable that the bill’s key innovation lies in formally defining “transnational repression” in Canadian law. It empowers Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee to review evidence submitted by diaspora groups and human rights advocates, while mandating regular transparency reports from the RCMP and FINTRAC.
“We want to ban these perpetrators and their families from entering Canada so they cannot hide their illicit wealth,” Bezan said.
He added that he hopes to name the legislation the “Global Magnitsky Sanctions Act,” extending its scope to regimes such as Iran, North Korea, and Russia. “It will ensure that those persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, and Christians are held accountable.”
Addressing Beijing’s campaign against Shen Yun, Bezan condemned the CCP’s paranoia and hostility: “Simply because the performance is associated with Falun Gong, they threaten theaters. It shows how paranoid Xi Jinping’s government has become. Bill C-219 will strengthen sanctions to ensure Canada does not become a safe haven for corrupt officials.”
He noted that the same pattern of fabricated threats appeared in the October 5 incident involving a false bomb threat targeting U.S. President Donald Trump’s residence, which was falsely attributed to Falun Gong media outlets — an apparent attempt to frame the group.
MP Costas Menegakis: Shen Yun is the best cultural performance — Intimidation has no place in Canada
Conservative MP Costas Menegakis denounced Beijing’s threats against Shen Yun as acts of violence and intimidation. “Shen Yun is a beautiful, multicultural performance accompanied by exquisite music and breathtaking dance,” he said. “There is absolutely no reason to prevent people from enjoying authentic Chinese culture.”
Menegakis, a Greek-Canadian entrepreneur and recipient of both the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals, attended Shen Yun in Toronto with his wife in 2013 and said he was deeply moved. During campaigns, he often heard expressions of fear within Chinese-Canadian communities. “People are afraid to speak out, worried that their families might face retaliation. That should not exist in Canada,” he said.
He also cited a violent incident on Oct. 2 in Toronto, when a man waving a Chinese flag smashed Falun Gong display boards outside the Chinese consulate’s visa office and attempted to assault practitioners before being stopped and reported to police. “This shows the risks faced by Falun Gong practitioners who peacefully express their beliefs overseas,” he said. “The Canadian government must focus on eliminating foreign interference and ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to live freely. Freedom, democracy, and the rule of law are Canada’s core values.”
Menegakis called for immigration reforms to prioritize protection for victims of persecution. Although Parliament earlier this year passed the Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act (Bill C-70), he said the mechanisms remain inadequate. “People come to Canada to escape oppression, yet they still live in fear,” he said. “We must work harder to eradicate transnational repression and CCP infiltration.”
Former MP Stéphane Bergeron: Learning from Taiwan’s experience
Former MP Stéphane Bergeron highlighted that Taiwan’s experience in countering disinformation and political infiltration offers valuable lessons for Canada. As a parliamentarian, he had pushed for federal reviews of foreign interference, particularly China’s influence operations.
“This is a relatively new field for us, and we must learn from those who understand this reality best,” Bergeron said.
During a Canadian delegation visit to Taiwan, lawmakers studied strategies for combating misinformation and foreign interference. “We learned a great deal,” Bergeron said. “Now we must bring those lessons home.” He warned that Canadians’ long-standing optimism must give way to vigilance: “We are under disinformation attacks and have become targets of foreign interference.”
Bergeron urged Canadians to wake up and act decisively. “Taiwan understands better than anyone how to respond to China,” he said. These lessons apply not only to threats against Shen Yun but also to broader patterns of interference — from election manipulation to community infiltration.
He noted that Taiwan’s National Police Agency recently received threats impersonating Shen Yun performers, warning of planned attacks on screenings of the documentary State Organs, which exposes the CCP’s forced organ harvesting. The case, he said, underscores the global coordination behind Beijing’s information warfare.
Global perspective: Escalating ‘unrestricted warfare’ and international response
The CCP’s campaign of transnational repression against Falun Gong extends far beyond Canada. Between Oct. 1 and 16, a surge of impersonation-based threats, physical intimidation, and cyberattacks occurred across multiple countries. On Oct. 15, the Falun Dafa Information Center website (faluninfo.net) was hit by a massive DDoS attack generating over 3.38 million requests from IPs traced to Australia, though the attackers used VPNs to conceal their identities.
Other incidents included:
Oct. 7 — an impersonated message threatening a gas bomb and shooting at Longquan Temple.
Oct. 9 — a fake threat falsely claiming to come from Falun Gong practitioners, warning of random killings during Taiwan’s Double Tenth Day, clearly intended to frame the group.
Oct. 15–16 — multiple hoax bomb threats forcing police to evacuate The Epoch Times offices in Taiwan.
Legal scholar Yuan Hongbing revealed that in 2022, Xi Jinping personally ordered the expansion of overseas persecution campaigns targeting Falun Gong, deploying “media warfare” and “legal warfare” to extend repression globally.
Democracies are responding. In May 2025, Texas became the first U.S. state to criminalize transnational repression. Two months later, U.S. lawmakers Chris Smith and Jeff Merkley introduced the Transnational Repression Policy Act, aimed at countering Beijing’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, Shen Yun artists, and other dissidents abroad.
The bill mandates asset freezes and visa bans on foreign officials involved in such actions and requires the State Department to issue annual reports, strengthening coordination with the FBI and other agencies. The House version (H.R. 4829) and Senate version (S. 2525), introduced on July 29, enjoy bipartisan backing. Lawmakers note that the CCP has ranked first globally for ten consecutive years, with more than 160 documented cases of transnational repression, and expect the legislation to advance this fall.
