Two now fired Chinese scientists were allowed to keep their jobs and maintain top security clearance because public health officials reasoned “allegations” weren’t enough for immediate dismissal. “These were allegations,” Heather Jeffrey, head of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) told the Commons Special Committee on Canada-China Relations Friday, per Blacklock’s Reporter.Xiangguo Qiu, head of vaccine research at the PHAC National Microbiology Laboratory and her husband Keding Cheng, a biologist, were fired in 2021 after a months-long investigation. Qui and Cheng were named by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in 2020 as posing “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.”MPs expressed astonishment at the lapse.“I find that astounding,” said Conservative MP Michael Cooper. “In March of 2019 the agency (PHAC) had a fact-finding report that indicated there had been multiple breaches.”The couple kept undisclosed contacts with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Evidence showed Qiu also maintained an account at a Beijing bank.Testifying at the Commons committee, National Microbiology Laboratory managers acknowledged the couple initially came under investigation in August 2018. They were named as suspicious in a March 2019 fact-finding report, suspended with pay in July 2019 and finally fired in January 2021.“Between the time red flags were first raised about Dr. Qui and Dr. Cheng in the fall of 2018 through to the time they were marched out of the Lab on July 5 2019, were any restrictions during that nearly 11-month window placed upon them in terms of their access to the Lab?” asked MP Cooper.“There was not evidence of their affiliation with external actors,” replied Jeffrey“How were there not red flags at that point?” asked Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith.“These were allegations. Further investigation was ongoing,” replied Guillaume Poliquin, vice-president of the lab. “When someone is under investigation with serious allegations that have potential national security consequences, due process of course is justified but in the interests of our national security surely we should be looking at curtailing individual authority,” said Erskine-Smith.Bloc Québécois MP René Villemure depicted managers’ reaction to the security breach as lackadaisical.“You say these people had an ‘undeclared affiliation,’” said Villemure. “The PLA is not small potatoes.”“What we are faced with is the naivete or incompetence of this organization,” said Villemure, adding there appeared to be no consequences for management’s failure.“I am talking about people at the agency (PHAC),” said Villemure. “I am talking about those who should have been paying attention when they weren’t.”
