Recent questions have surfaced about relations between a federal Liberal candidate running in Markham-Unionville and China’s consulate in Toronto, including his presentation of an award of appreciation to a consul-general and appearing to salute the Communist flag at an event celebrating the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.
Peter Yuen, then a Toronto Police Service (TPS) superintendent, attended a Queen’s Park ceremony in 2016 together with a half dozen other uniformed TPS officers to commemorate the authoritarian regime’s 67th anniversary alongside then-Ontario Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne.
In a photograph published afterwards on the web site of the People’s Republic of China Toronto Consulate, Yuen appears to be saluting the Chinese flag while it’s being raised outside the legislature.
In his TPS uniform, Peter Yuen appearing to salute the Chinese flag because it is raised during a ceremony to commemorate the authoritarian regime’s 67th anniversary alongside then Ontario Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne outside Ontario’s legislature.
Toronto Consulate website / People’s Republic of China
Two years earlier, Global News found a photograph of a uniformed Yuen at an event inside China’s Toronto consulate, published in The China Day by day USA edition, showing him giving a plaque to outgoing PRC Toronto Consul Fang Li “in appreciation for his support and friendship during his term in office.”
The Toronto police officer and Chinese diplomat were surrounded by seven younger TPS officers, whose presence on the consulate event was not explained.
This 2016 photo shows Toronto Police Superintendant Peter Yuen (center left) giving a plaque to departing PRC Toronto consul Fang Li, surrounded by 7 other unidentified Toronto cops. The event happened on the China consulate in Toronto.
Li Na / China Day by day (USA Edition)
Presented with an in depth list of specific Global News questions on his attendance at these events, Yuen, who retired as a TPS deputy commissioner in 2022, offered only a general response:
“I’m pleased with my Hong Kong heritage, but I even have been a Canadian citizen for over 45 years and have been honoured to serve my community on the front lines of the Toronto Police Service for greater than 30 years.
“I’m on this race because I’m committed to constructing a robust, resilient, and united Canada. Through the period you referenced, events of this nature were common amongst private and public institutions as a way to strengthen people-to-people ties.”
“In my capability as a police officer, I attended public safety conferences all over the world, including Taiwan. I imagine in a robust Canada that stands firm in its defence of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. If I even have the privilege of serving as a Member of Parliament, I’ll at all times support this work.”
Global News discovered Yuen’s participation within the two events after the National Post reported last week that Yuen also made a visit in 2015 to the People’s Republic of China, where he attended a Chinese military parade in Beijing on the invitation of the communist government.
Yuen said his participation within the trip was approved by Toronto police and his superiors “as a part of a broader effort to acknowledge the role of Canada and its allies within the Second World War,” the National Post reported.
An NBC TV video report of the event showed China boldly displaying its growing military might for political reasons after an enormous stock market crash.
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The NBC’s report shows leader Xi Jinping having fun with “wave after wave of goose-stepping soldiers, tanks and missiles” and watching aircraft because the military parade passed through (and above) Tiananmen Square. It showed Chinese leader Xi Jinping looking on approvingly alongside his guest of honour, Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
“Most Western leaders stayed away,” the NBC report added.
Several news organizations have reported that Yuen also served briefly on the tutorial advisory board of a non-public Toronto highschool that gives in-person and online classes to overseas Chinese students searching for to organize for entry into Canadian and U.S. universities.
The Hogue Commission of Inquiry heard testimony — and received redacted CSIS briefing notes — that suggested some students from the highschool were bussed to Han Dong’s bid to win the federal Liberal nomination in Don Valley North riding in 2019.
Dong testified on the inquiry that he didn’t know who arranged or paid for the buses that transported the scholars but additionally acknowledged that he had tried to recruit the scholars as political supporters during an earlier visit to a residence where the scholars stayed.
Justice Hogue cited classified intelligence holdings that suggested the efforts were a part of an apparent attempt by the Chinese government to interfere with the final result of that Liberal nomination.
Neither the Liberal Party nor Yuen responded to questions on when his tenure with the highschool began or ended. Historical digital records of the NOIC Academy’s website reviewed by Global News listed Yuen as a member of its advisory board between at the least March 30,2023, and Sept. 19, 2024.
Yuen’s uniformed appearance on the events in 2015 and 2016 coincided with China facing international censure.
The regime faced mounting allegations of systemic problems in its criminal justice system, which resulted in widespread torture and other unwell treatment by Chinese police and unfair trials, in accordance with human rights watchdog group Amnesty International.
Global News contacted former CSIS intelligence officer Dan Stanton and a pro-democracy leader in Toronto’s Chinese community for his or her reactions concerning the Yuen photos and his trip to Beijing.
Cheuk Kwan, co-chairman of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China, said he had several concerns about Yuen’s relationships with the Chinese consulate and conduct at PRC events.
Kwan said that while it shouldn’t be mistaken to pay tribute to a departing foreign consul general, it’s a national matter often handled by federal Canadian officials.
‘This shouldn’t be something to be done by a neighborhood police officer.’
“That is national politics. This shouldn’t be something to be done by a neighborhood police officer. That’s China overstepping its boundaries. The evidence is there. We’re left guessing the motive.”
“You see the road of Chinese Canadian policemen backing him. To me, that’s beyond pale and totally inappropriate,” Kwan added. “The issue is that these people see no problem doing that. It’s business as usual.”
“What we’re seeing is that this shouldn’t be business as usual. It is a repressive regime. You’re cow-towing to any individual else,” Kwan added, saying Toronto cops mustn’t go to the PRC consulate in uniform and mustn’t be saluting the PRC flag.
“There may be a security concern, but there’s not much we will do to stop people from hob-knobbing with the consulate,” Kwan said.
Ex-CSIS officer Dan Stanton said he wasn’t concerned.
“There’s unlikely to be anything sinister or national security related to this very public acknowledgment to a diplomat. Consul Generals do good work locally. Most should not have an intelligence role,” Stanton said, saying influence efforts can be hidden.
“The (other) TPS officers (within the two sets of event photos) probably have familial links to Hong Kong, so this plays well in Chinese media,” Stanton added.
Through the period of Yuen’s trip and photos, nevertheless, Amnesty International published an in depth report that expressed concerns about PRC activities inside and out of doors the country in 2015 and 2016.
Recent laws presented serious threats to human rights
Amnesty said the PRC had drafted and enacted a series of recent “national security laws” that presented serious threats to the protection of human rights.
“(Chinese) Police detained increasing numbers of human rights defenders outside of formal detention facilities, sometimes without access to a lawyer for long periods, exposing the detainees to the danger of torture and other ill-treatment,” the Amnesty report said.
“Booksellers, publishers, activists and a journalist who went missing in neighbouring countries in 2015 and 2016 turned up in detention in China, causing concerns about China’s law enforcement agencies acting outside their jurisdiction,” Amnesty added.
Kwan added there was no need for a TPS officer like Yuen to travel to Beijing to attend a military parade, either. He also questioned who paid for Yuen’s trip and why.
Kwan also remarked that a Canadian police officer also mustn’t salute the flag of a repressive regime.
Toronto Police Service corporate spokeswoman Stephanie Sayer declined to reply questions on Yuen, nor did she reply to questions on who paid for his trip to the military parade in Beijing in 2015 or who approved it, as a substitute referring the queries to Yuen.
Yuen didn’t answer Global News’ direct query about who paid his travel and accommodation expenses for the 2015 Beijing trip.
Media reports from the past several years suggest that raising and flying the Chinese flag in Toronto has turn into an increasingly controversial issue in Ontario, because the Chinese government has faced increasing allegations of foreign interference in Canadian elections.
Similar events were halted at Queen’s Park in 2020 and within the City of Markham in 2019 following outcry from Chinese Canadian taxpayers and residents who protested such events, calling for them to be banned and for officials who organized them to apologize.
Yuen was swiftly picked to run in Markham earlier this month after incumbent Liberal MP Paul Chiang was forced to withdraw. Yuen had launched an unsuccessful campaign in Ontario’s February election.
Chiang resigned after he made remarks suggesting Canadians turn in Joe Tay, a Tory candidate and pro-democracy Chinese activist, to the PRC Consulate in Toronto and collect a bounty. Chiang later apologized for his remarks, which caused outrage across Canada and calls for his resignation.
The Markham riding, which is home to one in all Canada’s largest population of residents of Chinese ancestry, has been a magnet for political troubles and foreign influence efforts, including being the situation of an alleged overseas Chinese secret police station that was shuttered by the RCMP.
