Canadian scientists fired from Winnipeg infectious disease lab were working to benefit China: CSIS report reveals

Working in the Level 4 virology facility at the Winnipeg-based National Microbiology Lab, equipped to deal with the most serious and deadly human and animal diseases, Dr. Xiangguo Qui and her husband Keding Cheng were fired from the facility in July 2019 and were stripped of their security clearances.

Opposition parties had hoped the documents would shed light on why their dismissals were announced in January 2021, triggering concerns about Chinese espionage.

Qiu was using the lab “as a base to assist China to improve its capability to fight highly-pathogenic pathogens” and “achieved brilliant results,” according to the documents released on Tuesday.

The agency said that during interviewing her, she “repeatedly lied” when confronted about her association with China and her involvement in various Chinese programs, even when she was presented with the evidence.

Those programs are set up to “boost China’s national technological capabilities and may pose a serious threat to research institutions, including government research facilities, by incentivizing economic espionage and theft of intellectual property,” CSIS report said.

The released documents showed that Qiu provided Beijing “with the Ebola genetic sequence, which opened a door of convenience for China,” wrote CSIS.

Qiu was accused by CSIS of being associated with multiple “talent programs” administered and funded by various Chinese entities, calling her “reckless judgement regarding decisions that could have impacted public safety and the interests of Canada.”

In a statement, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre accused the Liberal government of allowing the Chinese government and its entities to infiltrate Canada’s top-level lab.

“This is a massive national security failure by Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government, which he fought tooth and nail to cover up.”

Although Canada’s Health Minister Mark Holland acknowledged the documents reveal as “lax adherence to security protocols”, he insisted that at no time did national secrets or information that threatened the security of Canada leave the lab.

“I think that there was an inadequate understanding of the threat of foreign interference…an earnest effort was made to adhere to those policies, but not with the rigour that was required,” he told reporters.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)