Fired Canadian scientists failed to protect confidential information, new documents say

2024-02-29 06:12:02

OTTAWA, Canada (AP) — Two scientists at Canada’s top infectious diseases laboratory lost their jobs after reviews found they had failed to protect sensitive assets and information and failed to acknowledge collaborations with China, according to newly released documents.

The scientists, Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, were stripped of their security credentials at Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory in 2019 over questions about their loyalty to the country and the potential for coercion or exploitation by a foreign entity. according to the documents.

On Wednesday, five years later, more than 600 pages were made public following a special review of all records by all parties.

The documents show that Canada’s spy agency, the Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), assessed that Qiu repeatedly lied about the extent of his work with Chinese government institutions and refused to admit his involvement. in several of his programs, even when presented with evidence.

Opposition parties hoped the records, which are partially redacted, would shed light on why Qiu and Cheng were escorted out of the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg in July 2019 and fired in January 2021. The couple did not has made comments and was supposedly in China.

CSIS concluded that despite having opportunities during his interviews to describe his association with Chinese entities, “Qiu continued to make blanket denials, feign ignorance, or tell outright lies.”

A November 2020 Canadian Public Health Agency (PHAC) report on Qiu notes that investigators “considered the adverse information and agree with CSIS’s assessment.”

Investigators determined that Qiu’s loyalty “remains a cause for serious concern” due to his direct contact with entities tied to a foreign country.

A PHAC report on Cheng’s activities indicated that he allowed restricted visitors to work in laboratories without supervision and that, on at least two occasions, he failed to prevent the unauthorized departure of laboratory materials.

Furthermore, according to the report, he was not clear about his activities and collaborations with people from government agencies “from another country, especially members of the People’s Republic of China.”

Canadian Health Minister Mark Holland said Wednesday that the documents revealed “lax compliance with security protocols,” but insisted that at no time did national secrets or information that threatened the country’s security leave the laboratory.

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