Redacted information in documents appears designed to protect PHAC, not national security, committee finds
A special committee of MPs tasked with evaluating censored records on the firing of two scientists from Canada’s top infectious disease laboratory – researchers who worked with China – says most of the information redacted from Public Health Agency of Canada documents appears to have been withheld to shield the organization from embarrassment rather than to protect national security.
Last year opposition parties and the Liberal government agreed to appoint the special committee of MPs to examine unredacted copies of all the related records and recommend what more could be made public. Three former judges were enlisted to weigh the release of this additional information against the risk of injury to things such as national security.
MPs on the committee said when it came to Canadian Security Intelligence Service documents, they understood these should be “protected to a greater extent” from release but asked that other solutions to convey the information be used, such as substantive summaries.Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng, infectious disease scientists from Canada’s top-secret laboratory in Winnipeg who collaborated with researchers in China.The Globe and Mail has reported that Dr.
The letter said the release of documents will protect the identities of Canadians and permanent residents but not the two scientists or the names and titles of officials from the People’s Republic of China. After back-and-forth discussions throughout January, the panel said: “We are transmitting to you what is in our view the maximum measure of disclosure and transparency consistent with the protection of national security, national defence and other public or private interested mandated by the committee.”
Dr. Qiu’s name appears as a co-author on more than 120 scientific research papers published between 2000 and 2021. A significant number were collaborations with Chinese scientists, and much of the research was funded by Chinese government bodies.
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