Caught in the crossfire: Chinese diaspora bears brunt of Canada-Beijing tensions
Allegations of harassment have been described by rights activists and Canada’s ethnic minorities, and documented by Amnesty International in recent years.
Some have accused Chinese undercover agents or proxies of intimidating Chinese Canadians by vowing retribution against their relatives back home.
“What they do is they use family ties to China or Hong Kong to threaten you,” Cheuk Kwan, co-chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China, told AFP recently.
Kwan, clad in a black leather jacket, said this includes “death threats, verbal intimidation, or something as simple as saying: ‘We know where your parents live.’”