University teachers are seeking an exemption from a new federal law that unmasks friends of foreign agents. They claim the new federal law manifests a “chilling effect.” The appeal follows evidence documenting the reach of China Communist Party (CCP) agents on campus, per Blacklock’s Reporter. One McGill University professor testified in September CCP agents made attempts to recruit him. He said their “recruitment strategy is called ‘feed, trap and kill.’”On June 19, parliament passed into law Bill C-70, An Act Respecting Countering Foreign Interference. It mandates the naming of anyone “acting at the direction of, for the benefit of or in association with a foreign entity” in lobbying public office holders under threat of five years’ imprisonment or a $5 million fine.Educators in a letter to the Senate National Security Committee sought an “academic exemption” for professors, librarians and researchers.“It could create a chilling effect,” the Canadian Association of University Teachers wrote. The association complained of the “rushed process for this bill,” which passed in six weeks, and predicted it would “exaggerate the extent of actual threats” on campus.“Our members are teachers, researchers and librarians at colleges and universities who work with colleagues and students from around the world,” the association wrote senators.“It is unclear what specific intelligence would need to be shared to improve the identification of specific threats facing researchers and students in Canada that is not already being shared in current efforts to build resiliency. Instead it could worsen profiling on campus.”Parliamentary committees have documented accounts from numerous witnesses indicating CCP agents specifically targeted postsecondary schools. The Security and Intelligence Service in 2019 identified campus Confucius Institutes as a Party front intended to “influence Chinese communities and politicians to adopt pro-China positions.”MPs in 2020 obtained emails from University of British Columbia (UBC) faculty “negotiating with Huawei Technologies” for sponsorships despite security warnings. Payments from the Chinese firm totaled $7.6 million over three years.McGill University Professor Benjamin Fung, Canada Research Chair in Information Studies, in testimony last September 21 at the Commons Science Committee said he was offered a six-figure payoff from CCP operatives. Fung refused.“I asked them, ‘What do you want me to do? Their response was, ‘You just need to reply to our emails.’”“My research interests include artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and malware analysis,” said Fung, disclosing the CCP “and Chinese state-affiliated companies expressed strong interest in (his) research in past years.”“In 2018 a Chinese company attempted to recruit me as a consultant in their artificial intelligence team,” said Fung. “That company offers three times, yes, three times my salary to work for them as a consultant while I remain a professor at McGill. This recruitment strategy is called ‘feed, trap and kill.’”“They first use lucrative offers to attract their targets. Once a professor relies on their funding they will start making unreasonable requests including transferring intellectual property rights, getting sensitive data or asking the professor to say something that may not be true.”“After I rejected their offer they contacted me every one or two years and offered different kinds of collaboration. They also started to approach my graduate students. Fortunately none of my students have joined.”
