Conservative MP Chak Au says Chinese-Canadians deserve answers over security screening failures after a Canadian intern at NATO headquarters who passed a CSIS background check was arrested on espionage charges.The Commons public safety committee unanimously agreed to investigate Canada's security screening procedures following the July 24 arrest in Belgium of Biwei Zhang, a former University of Ottawa engineering student working as a Canadian intern at NATO Supreme Headquarters in Mons.“This matter is very sensitive within the Chinese-Canadian community,” said Au, who represents Richmond Centre-Marpole, B.C. “When something like this happens, it usually unfairly gives Asians a bad name.”Au said security failures involving individuals should not be allowed to tarnish entire communities.“The actions of a few should not cast a shadow across an entire community, especially when failures in oversight or enforcement contributed to the problem,” said Au.“That’s why I think we need to get to the bottom of the issue, determine what went wrong, hold those responsible accountable, and take the necessary steps to prevent it from happening again.”Committee members adopted a Conservative motion calling for an examination of Canada's security screening processes over a minimum of three meetings on a priority basis.The motion also calls for Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree and other witnesses deemed relevant by the committee to testify. MPs will then report their findings and recommendations to the House of Commons.Liberal members supported the investigation.“This is a bid to be collaborative,” said Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who represents Mount Royal, Que.Bloc Québécois MP Sébastien Lemire, representing Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Que., said hearings were necessary given the national security implications.“This is an important issue, a very sensitive topic,” said Lemire. “We’re talking about national security. We can focus on shortcomings. We have to.”.Zhang had passed a routine background check conducted by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service before working at NATO headquarters.Conservative MP Dane Lloyd, who sponsored the motion, said Zhang's arrest raises questions about how Canadian security clearances are conducted.“These allegations raise serious questions regarding how an individual now accused of espionage was able to obtain access to one of Canada’s most important military alliances,” said Lloyd, who represents Parkland, Alta.Lloyd said the case follows other security controversies involving people granted access to sensitive Canadian facilities or information.“Canadians are rightly very concerned when they see multiple cases in the past number of years related to people who have been given national security classifications and have been found to be committing acts of espionage,” he said.Lloyd pointed to the previous security controversy at the Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.Xiangguo Qiu, the Chinese-Canadian former head of vaccine research at the laboratory, and her husband Keding Cheng, a biologist, were fired in 2021 after maintaining contacts with the Chinese People's Liberation Army.A 2020 CSIS memo said the pair posed “a very serious and credible danger to the Government of Canada as a whole and in particular at facilities considered high security due to the potential for theft of dangerous materials attractive to terrorist and foreign entities.”
