A coalition of Hong Kong pro-democracy and diaspora groups have called on Canada’s foreign minister to take a stand against transnational repression, triggered by illegal bounties targeting Canadians.

In Brief by Probe International

Sam Cooper for The Bureau

Canadian pro-democracy groups advocating for Hong Kong’s freedom have urged Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand to sanction senior Hong Kong officials and judges, following the issuance of arrest warrants and bounties targeting overseas activists, including Canadians.

In a letter signed by 10 organizations nationwide, the coalition accuses Hong Kong’s leadership—Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, police commissioners, security secretaries, and judges—of weaponizing Hong Kong’s Article 23 national security laws to persecute activists, freeze assets, and undermine judicial independence, citing their roles in trials without juries, passport revocations, and financial crackdowns on dissidents.

The letter links these actions to interference by China’s Communist regime in Canada, including allegations of election meddling, and Liberal MP Paul Chiang’s amplification of Conservative candidate Joseph Tay’s bounty, which derailed Tay’s campaign and endangered his relatives in Hong Kong.

The groups argue Canada has a “moral and legal obligation” to act, stating sanctions would reaffirm Canada’s stance against human rights abuses and authoritarian aggression.

The sanctions call invokes Canada’s Sergei Magnitsky Law to freeze assets and ban travel for officials deemed complicit in human rights abuses, framing the move as a test of Canada’s post-G7 commitment to counter authoritarian overreach.

Read the original report at the publisher’s website here [subscription only].