<\/p>\n
Chinese consular officials met with a Vancouver city hall worker last month and urged her to cancel an arts event that highlighted communist party repression, sources told Global News.<\/p>\n
On the meeting, representatives of China\u2019s consulate told a staff member of the town\u2019s civic theatres branch\u00a0that they wanted a series of performances by the Shen Yun dance group to be\u00a0stopped, the sources said.<\/p>\n
The event, a celebration of Chinese cultural traditions lost under Communist rule, also received bomb threats, but went ahead anyway April 8-12 on the city-owned Queen Elizabeth Theatre.<\/p>\n
However the incident suggests that China continues to make use of its diplomatic missions to silence dissent in Canada, whilst Prime Minister Mark Carney pursues a detente with Beijing.<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s intelligence agencies have alleged that China uses each diplomatic and foreign interference tactics, corresponding to threats and harassment, to advance its interests overseas.<\/p>\n
In response to Public Safety Canada guidelines<\/a>, \u201ctargeting any level of presidency to influence public policy or decision-making in a way that’s clandestine, deceptive or threatening, and is contrary to Canadian interests\u201d constitutes foreign interference.<\/p>\n Global News is just not naming the town worker who met the consulate officials as a consequence of potential safety concerns.<\/p>\n Approaching Canadians within the diaspora, and who could have members of the family in China vulnerable to reprisals, is a standard foreign interference tactic.<\/p>\n Beijing has long targeted Shen Yun, a Recent York-based performing arts group that has toured the world for the past 20 years, and uses the banner \u201cChina before Communism.\u201d<\/p>\n Through its consulates, Beijing has decried the Shen Yun shows as \u201canti-China propaganda\u201d which are spreading the ideology of Falun Gong, a movement banned by Beijing as an \u201cevil cult.\u201d<\/p>\n A Vancouver city hall spokesperson confirmed that staff from Vancouver Civic Theatres (VCT), which falls under the town\u2019s direction, met with representatives from the Chinese consulate in early April.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring this meeting a variety of cultural topics were discussed, including the Shen Yun production,\u201d a city of Vancouver press spokesperson wrote in a press release in response to questions from Global News.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough the years,\u00a0VCT\u00a0has\u00a0engaged with many\u00a0organizations, individuals,\u00a0consulates\u00a0and community groups\u00a0expressing\u00a0differing perspectives on event\u00a0content,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n \u201cStaff may, occasionally, meet with representatives of consulates for\u00a0information-sharing\u00a0purposes. These conversations are high-level and don’t involve policy decisions or commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cVCT doesn’t censor or limit lawful freedom of expression inside its venues.\u201d<\/p>\n Town wouldn’t answer questions on what the Chinese officials said to the town worker regarding Shen Yun, but sources told Global News that the consulate wanted the event cancelled.<\/p>\n \u201cThe mayor and council have to take this very seriously,\u201d said former Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart, now an associate professor on the Simon Fraser University School of Public Policy.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s worrying to me is the extent of interference. Taking pot shots at politicians is one thing, but beginning to infiltrate throughout the civil service and directly intimidating civil servants, I haven\u2019t heard of that before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo this is maybe an emboldened move by the consulate, in the event that they are actively getting in and trying to vary city operations, bypassing politicians, bypassing political avenues and doing this internally.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s deeply worrying to me.\u201d<\/p>\n The Chinese consulate didn’t reply to questions. The Vancouver municipal official accountable for the venue where the Shen Yun show was staged didn’t reply to phone and text messages.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Shen Yun could also be known to most Canadians for the colorful flyers dropped of their mailboxes promoting their events, if not for the performances themselves.<\/p>\n But for the Chinese government, the show has change into a preoccupation, in keeping with a corporation representing Falun Gong practitioners.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy is a proclaimed superpower afraid of a dance performance?\u201d asked Joel Chipkar, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Association of Canada.<\/p>\n Way back to 2011, the Chinese consul general in Vancouver urged then-mayor Gregor Robertson to boycott Shen Yun on the grounds that it was all \u201ccult messages and political attacks,\u201d Business in Vancouver<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n In the course of the foreign interference inquiry that delivered its report<\/a> in 2025, members of the Canadian\u00a0Falun\u00a0Gong community testified about efforts to interfere in Shen Yun performances.<\/p>\n They spoke about bomb threats to venues and said Chinese consular officials had warned Shen Yun\u2019s sponsors that their business with China could be impacted, and they might not find a way to acquire travel visas.<\/p>\n \u201cChinese embassies and consulates all over the world have tried to sabotage and stop the show from performing in several parts of the world,\u201d in keeping with a report submitted to the inquiry<\/a>.<\/p>\n Prior to the 2026 Shen Yun tour, Chinese consulates resumed their campaign<\/a>, releasing statements urging countries to \u201creject the cult\u201d and to as a substitute attend \u201cauthentic\u201d Chinese events.<\/p>\n Although Vancouver city staff didn’t acquiesce to the consulate\u2019s alleged push to axe the shows, the sources said the worker who met with Chinese officials was upset concerning the encounter.<\/p>\n \u201cFor civil servants, it\u2019s very worrying. They really haven’t any defence against this. It\u2019s elected officials who need to arise for them,\u201d Stewart, the previous Vancouver mayor, said in an interview.<\/p>\n He said the town should order staff to not attend any further meetings with consular officials, and ask the federal government to analyze the incident.<\/p>\n \u201cA letter has to go to Global Affairs asking for an investigation on this, and since that is repeated behaviour, Ottawa will want to review whether or not they need to actually shut this consulate down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether it is this blatant and there\u2019s this type of pattern of interference with local affairs, possibly it\u2019s best if all of the interactions are through the official embassy in Ottawa.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Before landing in Vancouver, Shen Yun performed in Toronto on March 28 without incident, but a threat on March 29 prompted the evacuation of the theatre.<\/p>\n Sent by email, it said explosives had been placed contained in the 4 Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, in addition to on Parliament Hill.<\/p>\n The identical email account sent one other message the next day, warning that gunmen would enter the theatre disguised as audience members, shoot the performers and set fire to the venue.<\/p>\n \u201cJust wait and see,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n Toronto police told Global News the threats \u201cwere determined to be unfounded,\u201d however the Canadian Opera Company, which owns the 4 Seasons Centre, cancelled the remaining performances.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the venue said the choice was made, \u201cout of an abundance of caution, prioritizing the protection and well-being of our artists, audiences, and staff given the knowledge, time, and resources available in that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Organizers announced on Monday that they’d rescheduled the Toronto performances for June 24-28.<\/p>\n But at a recent Toronto screening of a documentary film about Shen Yun, attendees said the show must have gone on, since police had determined no real threat existed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been coping with these sorts of targeted attacks for a really very long time, not only in\u00a0Canada, but in Europe, in Asia,\u201d said Sunni Zhou, a Shen Yun dancer who grew up in Mississauga.<\/p>\n Every time, the threats were deemed false, she said. \u201cWe wish to maintain fighting because what we\u2019re doing here is so amazing,\u201d Zhou said. \u201cIrrespective of how hard it’s, it\u2019s at all times price it at the tip.\u201d<\/p>\n Steve Lance, the manager producer of the film, Unbroken: The Untold Story of Shen Yun, said bomb threats also led to the evacuation of a performance in Taiwan.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever the show goes on because at the tip of the day, we all know where these threats are coming from. They\u2019re coming from China. They\u2019re not credible, and so they\u2019re really just meant to cause panic and terror.\u201d<\/p>\n In February, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was evacuated from his official residence after receiving a threat to blow it up unless he cancelled the Shen Yun shows within the country.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really a type of terrorism, and never within the sense of an actual bomb threat, but to terrorize people and drive fear in them and stop them from going out to their local\u00a0theatre\u00a0to see a performance.\u201d<\/p>\n He said Shen Yun is targeted since it showcases traditional Chinese culture \u201crooted in divinity and moral principles.\u201d<\/p>\n The Chinese Communist Party, which is atheist, due to this fact views it as a threat, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n The week Shen Yun was to open in Vancouver, an email arrived on April 2 that said a \u201cgreat quantity\u201d of ammonium nitrate explosives and a distant detonation device \u201chave been placed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPlease immediately cancel all future Shen Yun performances,\u201d it continued. Otherwise, the explosives could be detonated, read the e-mail, which was reported to the Vancouver Police Department.<\/p>\n Police determined it was a hoax. Cybercrime officers found\u00a0that the e-mail address used to send\u00a0the message was related to a phone number in China, an officer told event organizers.<\/p>\n As a precaution, a bomb sniffing dog checked the theatre and located no explosives. In contrast to Toronto, the shows went ahead despite the alleged objections from the Chinese consulate.<\/p>\n There isn’t any evidence that the threats come directly from the Chinese government, but Beijing\u2019s demonization of the show and of the Falun Gong might have been contributing aspects.<\/p>\n Further, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service identified the People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC)<\/a> as recently as Friday as one among the \u201cprincipal perpetrators of foreign interference\u201d within the country, together with India, Russia, Iran and Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\tBeijing seeks to silence criticism\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tPrincipal dancers, from left, Minghui, Angela Lin, Angelia Wang, Evangeline Zhu, Nara Oose, Lillian Parker and Tiffany Lin at premiere of film about Shen Yun, Recent York, March 24, 2026, in Recent York. (Photo by Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP).\t\t\t\t<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\tToronto show cancelled over email threatening to detonate explosives\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tQueen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia on Oct. 8, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES\/Don Denton.\t\t\t\t<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\tIs China emboldened by Carney’s embrace?\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tVancouver mayoral candidates Ken Sim, left, and Kennedy Stewart at town hall, September 7, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Darryl Dyck.\t\t\t\t<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n