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Gurski, a former CSIS analyst, now president of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting, is in touch with members of the Uyghur minority who live in Canada and are facing harassment, and who tell him this is all “par for the course.”

For diplomats to be involved in trying to shutter debate should give Global Affairs Canada grounds to raise the issue with China, Gurski said. But given Canada’s arrest of a top Chinese tech executive on a U.S. warrant, China’s ban on Canadian canola and its detention of Canadian citizens, he said, “I’d be surprised if this government goes that far. But it’s tough.”

Photo by AFP/Getty Images

“Freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression is a fundamental right. We expect foreign representatives’ interactions in domestic affairs in Canada to be appropriate,” said Adam Austen, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland.

“The government of Canada is deeply concerned about the situation facing Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Canada is gravely concerned about the lack of transparency and due process in the case of Uyghurs detained in so-called ‘re-education camps,’ which continues to call into question China’s commitment to the rule of law.”

Two other recent incidents on Ontario university campuses raised alarm bells as possible examples of China’s influence campaign, although the Chinese embassy has denied any involvement.

Toronto police are investigating the possibility of criminal threats in thousands of messages a Tibetan-Canadian received after being elected as a University of Toronto student president. An online petition with 11,000 signatures demanded Chemi Lhamo’s removal, and she said she believed Chinese authorities were involved.