In late June, China passed Hong Kong’s National Security Law, and the crackdown on protest leaders and pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong escalated over the past year, with some of the most prominent figures arrested or convicted, including Wong Chi-fung, Chow Ting, and Lai Chi-ying.
Canada and other Western countries accused China of undermining “one country, two systems. Canada’s Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marco Mendicino announced in late November that a new immigration and refugee policy for Hong Kong would be implemented after the New Year in 2021 to provide Hong Kong people with easier access to Canada to study, work and immigrate.
However, Hong Kong human rights activists argue that Canada could do more, especially for Hong Kong refugee claimants.
And China’s ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, warned Canada not to shelter Hong Kong people, arguing that it was interfering in China’s internal affairs. He even said, “If Canada is truly concerned about the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong and the health and safety of the 300,000 Canadian passport holders in Hong Kong and the interests of the large number of Canadian companies operating in Hong Kong, it should support the (Chinese government’s) efforts to combat violent crime.”
Canada can do more
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) recently announced a new policy, the Encourage Hong Kong Residents to Come to Canada Program, to provide Hong Kong students and youth with fast-track permission to come to Canada to work or study, such as a new three-year “open work permit” that allows Hong Kong residents who have received post-secondary education in Canada and other countries in the past five years, as well as their spouses/partners, the opportunity to come to Canada because the visa permit is open-ended and allows them to seek employment after arriving in Canada.
Also, the new policy provides that Hong Kong people who are already studying and working in Canada can apply for permanent resident status through an expedited channel.
Cherie Wong is the founder and executive director of the Alliance of Canada-HongKong, an organization that advocates for Hong Kong freedom and rights in Canada. In an interview with the Voice of America in Chinese, she said the new policy is a good first step to support Hong Kong people. But it doesn’t cover enough people, and Canada can do more.
This policy is incomplete and it doesn’t address the bigger dilemma that Hong Kong people face, which is political persecution,” said Wong Cheuk-yin. This policy is very much focused on economic and academic immigration, making it easier for them to be able to stay in Canada, and is fighting for elite talent.”
But she described how those who really need help in Hong Kong right now are high school students who can’t afford to pay to come to Canada to study and work, or those who are a little older.
She added: “Because of the new crown outbreak and the travel restrictions Canada has adopted, there has been no way for those who desperately need to leave Hong Kong to do so for the entire year.”
She also called on the Canadian government to take steps to reduce the backlog in the refugee application process and speed up the process.
Current information indicates that about fifty Hong Kong protesters are applying for refugee status in Canada.
Under current Canadian policy, refugee applicants are required to undergo a “pre-removal risk assessment”. If the risk assessment is not passed, the applicant is prohibited from resubmitting the assessment within 12 months. However, in this new policy, the government says that the situation in Hong Kong is deteriorating, so the 12-month time limit has been removed so that Hong Kong refugee applicants can be reassessed as soon as possible. In the meantime, Hong Kong people can also apply for refugee status through existing Canadian policies.
Robert Kurland, a Vancouver-based immigration lawyer, said in an interview with the Voice of America that the Canadian government is still waiting to see what happens.
I don’t feel that there’s much more the Canadian government can do in the current situation than to be patient, be vigilant and keep a close eye on how Beijing treats Hong Kong people,” he said. If China takes tougher measures against Hong Kong people, Ottawa changes its policy and can bring more Hong Kong people to Canada; if Beijing continues its strategy to stabilize the situation in Hong Kong, Canada can keep its current plan.”
He said that after the tense situation in Hong Kong, the immigration cases he received on behalf of Hong Kong people included people of all ages, with family reunification and individual immigration applications dominating, which involve personal considerations and long-term family plans.
In an interview with the Voice of America, Xiaogang Lai, a visiting associate professor at Queen’s University in Canada, said the Canadian government will not sit idly by with regard to Hong Kong refugee applicants.
Canada’s foreign policy has always been to keep a low profile; it does and doesn’t say anything,” he said. In addition, Canada itself is a refugee country and has a natural sympathy for refugees. For example, if you leave Hong Kong and come to Canada, will Canada still turn you away? It won’t.”
Hong Kong’s national security law passed: widespread fear among protesting Hong Kongers
Wang Zhuoyan described the current Hong Kong as a place where people who have participated in protests generally feel worried and afraid.
She said, “The Hong Kong regime appears to be pursuing individuals who have previously expressed their support for democratic ideas. They are targeting both the most radical and strongest expressions of opposition, as well as protesters who had moderately expressed support for democracy.”
She explained that since the implementation of Hong Kong’s National Security Law, the government has shifted from violent police repression to “invisible repression,” including removing sensitive content from textbooks, arresting young leaders, or announcing the arrest of a U.S. citizen, all because Hong Kong is changing and street protests are no longer allowed, and they are now arresting and charging protesters.
In a series of protests from June 2019 against the amendment of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance to this year against Hong Kong’s National Security Law, more than 10,000 Hong Kong people have been arrested, and more than 2,400 of them have been formally charged. Moreover, the protesters fear that the charges against them will be more serious and the prison terms may increase after the implementation of the National Security Law.
And in October this year, a poll conducted by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong showed that 43.9 percent of Hong Kong people intended to move to another country, while 46.8 percent said they had no intention of emigrating.
In the question of immigration destination, those who chose Canada accounted for 9.3%, ranking after the United Kingdom (32.8%), Australia (11.6%) and Taiwan (10.7%).
In response to the question of why they would emigrate, dissatisfaction with the SAR government and the Chief Executive’s top officials, political instability, and the human rights situation/loss of freedom of speech and press in Hong Kong ranked in the top three.
Colander said he has not yet seen an influx of immigrants from Hong Kong, but what will happen in the next five years, he could not answer. One of the major uncertainties is what does Beijing do next with Hong Kong?
Canada’s historical ties to Hong Kong
Canada has always paid special attention to Hong Kong, and the Canadian government can always be heard protesting after the implementation of Hong Kong’s National Security Law, the collective resignation of pro-democracy legislators, and the arrest of prominent protesters. The origins of the relationship can be traced back to the “Battle of Hong Kong” during World War II.
In 1941, Canada sent nearly 2,000 soldiers to reinforce the Allied forces in Hong Kong at the request of the British. Three weeks after their arrival, war broke out in the Pacific. On Dec. 8, The Japanese attacked Hong Kong, and on Dec. 25, the Allied forces surrendered with heavy casualties. By the end of World War II in 1945, 554 of these Canadian soldiers had died in battle or after being captured, and 303 of them were buried in the Sai Wan National Memorial Cemetery. To this day, Hong Kong people still hold annual memorial services here.
According to Dr. Lai, there is a deep historical connection between Canada and Hong Kong, starting with their close relationship with the British Empire and the fact that it is “a friendship made of blood”.
Among the many Hong Kong refugees who arrived in Canada after the fall of Hong Kong was Ng Bing Chi, who became Canada’s 26th Governor General – a two-year-old who came to Canada with her parents in 1941.
In addition, the decade between the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 and the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, especially after the June Fourth Incident, saw another wave of immigration to Canada by Hong Kong people. Vancouver on the west coast of Canada and Toronto on the east coast of Canada are the two major cities where Hong Kong people immigrate.
At present, 300,000 people with Canadian passports live in Hong Kong, which is also known as “Asia’s most Canadian city”; Canada is also the country with the largest number of Hong Kong immigrants outside of the United Kingdom.
A lose-lose or win-win-win situation?
This year marks 50 years of diplomatic relations between Canada and China, but relations between the two countries have hit a low point, and in addition to Meng Wanzhou and the two “Canadian Macs,” the Hong Kong issue is bound to become an important part of Canada’s policy toward China.
According to Colander, for a country like Canada, liberalizing immigration and refugees from Hong Kong would be a very good thing.
He said, “The Hong Kong people who want to immigrate to Canada this time are English-speaking, well-educated, pro-democracy, business-minded and can easily integrate into Canadian society – they are a human resource.”
He even believes that the Chinese government will be happy to see the “troublemakers” leave Hong Kong, so it’s a win-win-win situation.
And Dr. Lai believes that China’s policy toward Hong Kong this year, which has deprived it of an international bridgehead like Hong Kong, could become even worse than it was during the Cold War.
It is a sad thing that Canada is changing its immigration rules to accept more Hong Kong people,” he said. After so many years, Hong Kong has developed its own culture and practices, and now that its autonomous status is gone, causing a mass exodus of Hong Kong people, (it will result in) its color of the Pearl of the Orient being gone, and I’m afraid it will be difficult to recapture its former glory.”
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