Federal authorities have admitted to significant delays in taking action against two scientists dismissed as Chinese spies at the National Microbiology Laboratory, revealing that a security investigation spanned more than two years, says Blacklock's Reporter.Nathalie Drouin, deputy Privy Council clerk, addressed the issue at the Commons Special Committee on Canada-China Relations, stating, “It’s always easy to look at what happened in the past with a retrospective lens and then see how easy it was.” She emphasized the need to scrutinize the timeline from the initial signal to the eventual suspension of the two scientists.Xiangguo Qiu, head of vaccine research at the Winnipeg Lab, and her husband Keding Cheng, a biologist, were first flagged for suspicious conduct in August 2018. However, they retained access to the lab until July 2019 and were only suspended without pay before finally being terminated in January 2021.“We can always say things could have been faster,” Drouin testified. “However, at the beginning, it was not even clear it was a national security issue. It was more lax administrative procedure. Like, it took some time.”Conservative MP Michael Chong raised questions about the timeline, stating, “The first flag went up in August 2018. It took until January 20, 2021, to terminate Dr. Qiu and Dr. Cheng from the employment of the Government of Canada. What we’re trying to understand here at the committee is why the process took two-and-a-half years to result in that termination.”According to a 2020 Canadian Security Intelligence Service memo, the couple maintained secret contacts with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army bioweapons program, posing “a very serious and credible danger to the Government of Canada as a whole.” Chong expressed concerns over the prolonged investigation and termination process.Conservative MP Michael Cooper questioned why no preventive measures were taken to stop the couple from fleeing to China. However, David Vigneault, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, maintained, “CSIS is not a law enforcement organization. We have no powers to detain or intercept or arrest anyone.”
Federal authorities have admitted to significant delays in taking action against two scientists dismissed as Chinese spies at the National Microbiology Laboratory, revealing that a security investigation spanned more than two years, says Blacklock's Reporter.Nathalie Drouin, deputy Privy Council clerk, addressed the issue at the Commons Special Committee on Canada-China Relations, stating, “It’s always easy to look at what happened in the past with a retrospective lens and then see how easy it was.” She emphasized the need to scrutinize the timeline from the initial signal to the eventual suspension of the two scientists.Xiangguo Qiu, head of vaccine research at the Winnipeg Lab, and her husband Keding Cheng, a biologist, were first flagged for suspicious conduct in August 2018. However, they retained access to the lab until July 2019 and were only suspended without pay before finally being terminated in January 2021.“We can always say things could have been faster,” Drouin testified. “However, at the beginning, it was not even clear it was a national security issue. It was more lax administrative procedure. Like, it took some time.”Conservative MP Michael Chong raised questions about the timeline, stating, “The first flag went up in August 2018. It took until January 20, 2021, to terminate Dr. Qiu and Dr. Cheng from the employment of the Government of Canada. What we’re trying to understand here at the committee is why the process took two-and-a-half years to result in that termination.”According to a 2020 Canadian Security Intelligence Service memo, the couple maintained secret contacts with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army bioweapons program, posing “a very serious and credible danger to the Government of Canada as a whole.” Chong expressed concerns over the prolonged investigation and termination process.Conservative MP Michael Cooper questioned why no preventive measures were taken to stop the couple from fleeing to China. However, David Vigneault, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, maintained, “CSIS is not a law enforcement organization. We have no powers to detain or intercept or arrest anyone.”
