Lab security tightened after 2 scientists fired
OTTWA • The Public Health Agency of Canada says it has taken steps to bolster research security after two scientists lost their jobs over their dealings with China.
The reassurances did little to placate the federal Conservatives, who accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of covering up serious security lapses at the National Microbiology Laboratory.
“This is his government's lab, it's not a random university lab,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Thursday at a press conference.
“It's the top lab for the prime minister's public health agency, and he is exclusively responsible for the machinery of government as prime minister of the country. So this is on Justin Trudeau.”
The RCMP said Thursday its investigation of the matter is ongoing, adding that such probes are often complex and resource-intensive, taking several years to complete.
Two scientists at the Winnipeg laboratory were fired in early 2021 after reviews found they failed to protect sensitive assets and information, and played down their collaborations with Chinese government agencies, say documents released Wednesday.
The scientists, Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, were stripped of their security clearances over questions about their loyalty and the potential for coercion or exploitation by China, the records show.
More than 600 pages of internal reports and correspondence were made public following a special all-party review.
The hundreds of pages of documents include Canadian Security Intelligence Service assessments created after the pair were marched out of the labs.
For Qiu, in particular, they found there were strong ties between her and the Chinese government.
“The Service assess that Ms. Qiu developed deep, co-operative relationships with a variety of People's Republic of China institutions and has intentionally transferred scientific knowledge and materials to China in order to benefit the PRC government,” reads a letter from January 2021 recommending her security clearance be revoked.
CSIS discovered Qiu had applied for and likely received a position under China's Thousand Talents Program, a government sponsored program to recruit Chinese experts, which also allows them to keep jobs in Western countries.
Qiu's position came through the Wuhan Institute of Virology and CSIS determined that the Thousand Talents Program offers researchers up to $1 million in research subsidies and better access to visas and Chinese health care.
CSIS found Qiu has several positions as a visiting professor with Chinese institutions, but would leave those positions off her CV when applying for jobs within Canada. It found, in interviews about all of this, that Qiu repeatedly lied even as she was given every opportunity to come clean.
“Qiu continued to make blanket denials, feign ignorance or tell outright lies,” the CSIS letter wrote.
CSIS was also critical of Cheng, finding that he must have been aware of his wife's subterfuge and found that he had also likely applied to one of the Chinese government's talent programs. They found he too lied during interviews with CSIS.
“Despite being given ample opportunities to provide truthful statements to the interviewers, regarding topics of concern relating to his security clearance, the service assesses that Mr. Cheng failed to tell the truth in areas where he most needed to,” they wrote in July 2020.
The Public Health Agency, which is responsible for the top-security laboratory, said in a statement Wednesday it has established clear training and communication on security and employee accountability.
International collaborations require review from a security perspective, and procedures are in place to vet and approve new partnerships, the agency added.
The microbiology laboratory has a “renewed, proactive security posture” that has reinforced the physical security of the building, the health agency said. “Screening measures are strictly enforced for all staff and external visitors, including the requirement for visitors to be accompanied at all times and without exception.”
Opposition parties hoped the internal documents would shed light on why Qiu and Cheng were escorted out of the lab in July 2019 and subsequently fired in January 2021.
They also wanted to see records related to the transfer, overseen by Qiu, of deadly Ebola and Henipah viruses to China's Wuhan Institute of Virology in March 2019.
Health Minister Mark Holland said Thursday that “the environment has changed dramatically” regarding the security considerations related to international scientific collaboration.
Holland said pathogens of national security concern are no longer shared with China, given that Beijing “is making active efforts to infiltrate our scientific community for purposes that are not for collaboration.”