Vancouver city hall now says Global Affairs Canada didn’t approve a gathering held last month between one in every of its employees and Chinese officials regarding an event by performers critical of Beijing.
In an unsolicited email to Global News, town admitted it had falsely claimed the federal government had deemed the meeting with China’s consulate in Vancouver a standard diplomatic interaction.
“Global Affairs Canada didn’t take an official position in regards to the meeting,” city spokesperson Cecilia Ho said in the e-mail sent Tuesday correcting its previous statement in regards to the matter.
The spokesperson blamed an “internal misunderstanding.”
Global Affairs Canada didn’t reply to questions on the incident, which some have branded an example of China’s continued efforts to interfere in Canada’s domestic affairs.
On May 4, Global News reported that Chinese consular officials had requested a gathering with town worker answerable for the Vancouver theatre where dance group Shen Yun was scheduled to perform.
Sources told Global News the diplomats wanted the worker to cancel the show. Beijing has long targeted Shen Yun due to its ties to the Falun Gong movement and unflattering portrayal of Chinese communist party rule.
Responding to the report, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s office said in a May 5 statement that the meeting was “not a breach of protocol, nor was there any pressure” by consular officials to cancel the event.
“Staff discussed the meeting with Global Affairs Canada and confirmed that the meeting falls inside the bounds of a standard diplomatic interaction with China,” the statement said.
But town now says its statement was inaccurate and that Global Affairs Canada didn’t actually give the thumbs as much as the meeting upfront, because the mayor’s office had claimed.
The performance also faced bomb threats that were traced to China, but went ahead without incident on the Queen Elizabeth Theatre April 8-12 after a police search didn’t turn up explosives.
Prior to the Vancouver leg of the tour, the Canadian Opera Company cancelled Shen Yun performances in Toronto following threats to attack the venue. The performances have since been rescheduled for June.
Get day by day National news
Get day by day Canada news delivered to your inbox so you will never miss the day’s top stories.
The apparent attempts to silence a show critical of communist party repression got here as Prime Minister Mark Carney pursues a trade agreement with Beijing despite national security concerns.
Pro-democracy activists have asked the Carney government to deal with foreign interference with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who’s scheduled to arrived in Ottawa on Thursday, the primary such visit in a decade.
In a letter sent to Foreign Minister Anita Anand on Tuesday, the association representing Canadian Falun Gong practitioners asked her to boost China’s attacks on Shen Yun shows with Wang.
The letter asked Anand to demand that China “stop consular pressure on Canadian officials and venues, and stop orchestrating threats targeting Shen Yun and Canadian politicians.”
It also said Anand should demand that China cooperate with Canadian police investigations into those behind bomb threats targeting venues hosting Shen Yun performances.
Moreover, Anand should affirm that Canadians have the fitting to attend cultural performances and practice their faith “free from foreign intimidation,” the Falun Dafa Association of Canada wrote.
“Raising these concerns directly and on the record would signal to Beijing that Canada recognizes and takes seriously foreign interference and intimidation targeting communities inside Canada, and that attempts to suppress lawful cultural and non secular expression through coercive means are unacceptable,” it said.
The group was to carry a press conference on Parliament Hill on Thursday to press the problem, together with the imprisonment in China of Falun Gong practitioners with relations in Canada.
Shen Yun dancers pose with their tour bus.
Shenyun.org
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service reported on May 1 that China remained a top perpetrator of foreign interference against Canada, together with India, Russia, Iran and Pakistan.
A report released Wednesday by the Montreal Institute for Global Security said Canada was a “significant goal” of Chinese state influence operations that included meddling in elections.
The report urged G7 countries to co-ordinate their responses to the threat, which it called “a central national security challenge” to the political systems, institutions and societies of democratic countries.
“As strategic competition intensifies, authoritarian states are increasingly leveraging covert, coercive, and non-transparent tools to shape decision-making abroad,” said the report, Guarding the G7: Countering Beijing’s Influence Operations.
“The Chinese Communist Party leverages a broad ecosystem of affiliated organizations, intermediaries, and informal networks that span political, economic, academic, and societal domains to influence and interfere in G7 countries,” it said.
“These actors often operate under the guise of legitimate exchange, enabling influence to be exercised in ways which are difficult to detect, attribute or regulate.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.