On May 28, 2026, David Matas appeared alongside fellow human rights lawyer Joel Etienne, spokesperson of the Falun Dafa Association of Canada Joel Chipkar, and Falun Gong practitioners to discuss the issue of foreign interference and transnational repression targeting the Canadian Falun Gong community.
Matas discussed the illegality of Chinese foreign interference in Canadian cultural matters. Specifically, he stated that “[a]ny direct approach by the Chinese embassy or consulates in Canada to Canadian cultural venues to address cultural matters in general, and the denial of venues to Shen Yun in particular, violates both international treaty law and Canadian statute law,” as cultural interaction between China and Canada through the Chinese diplomatic mission and consulates must be conducted through Global Affairs Canada per the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Canadian Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act. Accordingly, he urged the Canadian Government to inform the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi and the Chinese embassy and consulates of this legal reality.
He also remarked on the ‘problematic’ nature of the cooperation agreement between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, as well as security cooperation through INTERPOL, noting that Chinese requests through these systems are often politically motivated and lacking in the rule of law. In regard to debate about whether the contents of the classified cooperation agreement should be made public, Matas stated–
“It should be made public. But the issue is frankly not [whether it should be made] public or private. The issue is whether it should be there at all… I don’t believe that simply making it public is going to resolve the issue. In principle, there shouldn’t be co-operation with a state that doesn’t have the rule of law and uses the criminal justice system, basically, to get after people that it’s targeting politically…”
Matas concluded that the true problem lies in that Canada does not have a legal structure to deal with transnational repression, and in fact it is not even mentioned in the law. He remarked that the mandate of the Commissioner of the Federal Foreign Interference Inquiry, for which Human Rights Action Group convened and represented the Human Rights Coalition, focused on the more limited scope of foreign interference in the federal election process rather than the broader issue of transnational repression affecting diaspora communities. Likewise he highlighted the gap in the foreign interference legislation, which creates a system of registration addressing the foreign interference towards the government and elections, but “doesn’t deal with transnational repression against diaspora communities.”
