Ottawa has raised concerns with Chinese and Hong Kong authorities over the targeting of Conservative candidate and Hong Kong pro-democracy advocate Joe Tay, and says it is monitoring the situation closely after Tay’s relatives were taken in for questioning last week.
Tay, who ran as a Conservative candidate in the recent federal election, is one of several pro-democracy activists wanted by Hong Kong authorities. In December 2024, they placed a HK$1 million (approximately CA$180,000) bounty on Tay, accusing him of “incitement to secession” and “collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.”
Tay was also the target of a Beijing-linked transnational repression operation during the election campaign, according to Canadian intelligence officials.
Global Affairs Canada called the imposition of a bounty on Tay “unacceptable,” and said that issuing “threats and intimidation” against a Canadian citizen amounts to transnational repression, adding it “will not be tolerated.”
“Canada has raised its strong concerns directly with both Chinese and Hong Kong authorities,” Global Affairs spokesperson Clémence Grevey told The Epoch Times in a May 13 statement.
“We deplore the decision by Hong Kong authorities to punish people for actions that amount to nothing more than freedom of expression.”
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Tay is the founder of pro-democracy platform HongKonger Station.
Global Affairs also acknowledged a recent incident involving Tay’s relatives in Hong Kong. Last week, reports emerged that Hong Kong’s National Security Department had taken Tay’s cousin and his cousin’s wife from their home in the Fo Tan region to a police station for questioning.
“We are aware of Mr. Tay’s family members being called in for questioning in Hong Kong,” Global Affairs said. “Canada is monitoring the situation closely and are in contact with Mr. Tay.”
Tay has not responded to a previous request for comment. The Epoch Times asked the RCMP what steps are being taken to ensure Tay’s safety in Canada but didn’t hear back by publication time.
Conservative MP Garnett Genuis recently condemned the questioning of Tay’s relatives in Hong Kong, describing it as a common tactic used by the Chinese Communist Party to to suppress dissenting voices overseas.
“It is gravely wrong. It is an act of brazen interference,” Genuis said in an interview with The Epoch Times.
“It’s also consistent with a pattern that we’ve seen from the Chinese Communist Party, which is to try to interfere in our democracy, in our affairs, through whatever means they can.”
Canada’s public inquiry into foreign interference identified the Chinese regime as “the most active perpetrator of foreign interference targeting Canada’s democratic institutions,” according to its final report released in January.
Federal Election
Tay’s case made the headlines in March after reports emerged that then-incumbent Liberal candidate Paul Chiang, during a January press conference with ethnic media, had suggested that Tay, his Conservative rival at the time, be handed over to the Chinese consulate in Toronto to collect the bounty placed on him.
Chiang apologized, calling his comments “a complete lapse of judgement,” and later withdrew from the election race. His comments prompted an RCMP investigation.
Tay said at the time that the incident left him fearing for his safety, and that before Chiang’s comments emerged, he had already contacted the RCMP about his personal protection.
“Threats like these are the tradecraft of the Chinese Communist Party to interfere in Canada,” he said in a March 31 statement, in response to Chiang’s comments.
“And they are not just aimed at me. They are intended to send a chilling signal to the entire community in order to force compliance with Beijing’s political goals.”
Tay’s case once again drew national attention when Canadian intelligence officials, just days before the federal election, warned of a Beijing-linked transnational repression operation targeting Tay.
The operation, officials said, involved the “inauthentic and coordinated” amplification of content related to his arrest warrant and bounty, as well as content related to his ability to run for elected office.
Tay lost in the April 28 federal election to his Liberal opponent, Maggie Chi, receiving 42.3 percent of the vote compared to the Liberals’ 53.2 percent.
