The federal government is reportedly willing to compensate Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian businessman Michael Spavor millions of dollars in settlement for time spent imprisoned in China. Spavor was charged and eventually convicted of spying for a foreign entity and illegally procuring state secrets. Kovrig was charged but never formally convicted of illegally receiving state secrets and intelligence in collaboration with Mr. Spavor.The men were arrested within weeks of each other in December 2018, after Canada arrested Chinese tech giant Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver. Zhou was held on house arrest as she faced extradition hearings, and was released to head back to China in September 2021.The two Michaels were released from Chinese prison in August 2021. Now, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is reportedly willing to compensate each Michael $3 million dollars, though Spavor’s lawyer John K. Phillips is asking for $10.5, per a report from the Globe and Mail.Philips has launched a lawsuit alleging gross negligence on how Ottawa handled intelligence operations, of which Spavor and Kovrig were affiliated with during their time in China. Two government sources told the publication Ottawa is offering the multimillion settlement packages to the men for the harsh conditions they lived through in Chinese prison, sometimes in solitary confinement. They often had to undergo interrogation and were sleep deprived. Spavor’s lawsuit is against the federal government and Canada’s Global Security Reporting Program (GSRP), a special intelligence unit within Global Affairs Canada, per Globe and Mail. GSRP deploys officials to foreign nations to collect security-related information for Ottawa. Spavor alleges he and Kovrig were arrested and imprisoned in China because there was intelligence information unintentionally shared between the two men that was meant to be exclusive intel for Canadian and Western spy agencies. Spavor, who spent time in North Korea, claims it was because Kovrig and two other GSRP officers were caught having a careless conversation about him. Kovrig previously told the publication he had followed the “standard of laws, rules and regulations governing diplomats.”The government is willing to settle at $3 million a piece, but is not prepared to go to the $10.5 million Spavor is asking for. Nor is Ottawa willing to pay one Michael more than the other. Federal lawyers reportedly hope to reach an agreement early in 2024. A review of the GSRP was conducted by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NIRSA), which released a report last week. It found “an absence of risk assessments, security protocols, and legal guidance specific to the increased scrutiny that GSRP officers may attract due to the nature of their reporting priorities.”“It was not clear if all officers understood that once they are no longer afforded diplomatic immunity, a receiving state may seek retaliatory measures against them,” the report states. Former GSRP officers “may be liable to prosecution for illegal acts they performed during the mission if they later re-enter the receiving state without the protection of diplomatic immunity.”Phillips responded to the report in a statement published by the Globe and Mail. “While we have no intention of discussing details of the report with the media, we do hope the government of Canada takes the report’s findings seriously, and we appreciate the NSIRA’s efforts in its investigation,” he said.
