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Documents authored by Canada’s top intelligence service reveal the long-awaited explanation behind the abrupt departure of two virologists from Canada’s top biolaboratory.

On 28 February 2024, the Canadian government released hundreds of pages related to the firing of Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng from the national microbiology lab in Winnipeg, Canada’s most secure microbiology lab.

The pair were escorted out of the lab in 2019 and were stripped of their security clearances. Their dismissals were announced in January 2021, triggering concerns about Chinese espionage and leading to heated demands in parliament for more information.

The hundreds of pages of documents released at the end of February include Canadian Security Intelligence Service (“CSIS”) assessments created after the pair were marched out of the labs.

CSIS determined that Qui worked closely and covertly with Chinese government labs and collaborated with “institutions whose goals have potentially lethal military applications.”

Read more: Fired scientists at Winnipeg lab worked closely and covertly with Chinese government, CSIS report says, National Post, 28 February 2024

Virologists had a “clandestine relationship” with Chinese Agents

The following was originally published by Counter Signal on 28 February 2024.

Secret documents reveal Trudeau government virologists had a “clandestine relationship” with Chinese agents.

The documents, which have been viewed by The Counter Signal and published here for our readers expose the Trudeau government for hiding the true reason for the departure of Dr. Xiangguo Qiu from Canada’s Public Health agency.

Despite the Liberals citing the departure as a private “personnel issue,” the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (“CSIS”) accuses Qiu of a long history of clandestine actions that put Canadians’ health and security at risk, along with directly assisting military research in China. 

Alongside selling deadly pathogens to Chinese authorities at the Wuhan Institute of Virology for just $75, Qui was also found to have hidden a Chinese bank account from CSIS.

“Further to our security assessment […], the Service assesses that Ms. Qiu developed deep, cooperative relationships with a variety of People’s Republic of China (PRC) institutions and has intentionally transferred scientific knowledge and materials to China in order to benefit the PRC Government, and herself, without regard for the implications to her employer or to Canada’s interests.”

“It is clear that Ms. Qiu […] made efforts to conceal her projects with PRC institutions. The Service further assesses that because of her extensive knowledge of the harmful effects of dangerous pathogens on human health, Ms. Qiu should have been aware of the possibility that her efforts to engage clandestinely with the PRC in these research areas could harm Canadian interests or international security.”

“Ms. Qiu repeatedly lied in her security screening interviews about the extent of her work with institutions of the PRC Government and refused to admit to any involvement in various PRC programs, even when documents [REDACTED] were put before her.”

“The Service also assesses that Ms. Qiu was reckless in her dealings with various PRC entities, particularly in her lack of respect for proper scientific protocols regarding the transfer of pathogens and in working with institutions whose goals have potentially lethal military applications that are manifestly not in the interests of Canada or its citizens.” 

Qiu was shown to have given China agents direct access to Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory, a Biosafety Level 4 facility which houses Canada’s most secret and secure pathogenic diseases. These pathogens can be used in weaponry. 

“Ms. Qiu also gave access to the [National Microbiology Laboratory] to at least two employees of a PRC institution whose work is not aligned with Canadian interests,” they stated.

Secretly Working for Wuhan Lab

CSIS also found that Qui was actively working with the Chinese Wuhan Virology Lab on a project that CSIS redacted and called “Project 1.” This project started on 1 January 2019, just three months before she sent a shipment of materials to the Wuhan lab, and the project involved the study of mRNA vaccines.

Project 2 was cited by CSIS as being a “cross-species infection” program that could have been used for Gain-of-Function research into bat viruses.

CSIS reported that “at least five virus strains from that 31 March 2019 BSL-4 pathogen shipment from [Winnipeg] to [Wuhan] were referenced in the Wuhan Institute of Virology Project 1.” 

Reaction from the Conservative Party

Opposition Leader Pierre Poilieve issued a scathing statement just before the publication of this story. 

Under Justin Trudeau’s watch, the PRC and its entities, including the People’s Liberation Army, were allowed to infiltrate Canada’s top-level lab. They were able to transfer sensitive intellectual property and dangerous pathogens to the PRC.

This is a massive national security failure by Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government, which he fought tooth and nail to cover up, including defying four parliamentary orders and taking the House of Commons Speaker to court. He cannot be trusted to keep our people and our country safe.

Statement From Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on the Winnipeg Lab Documents, The Conservative Party of Canada

The Trudeau government did indeed sue the Speaker of the House of Commons to prevent the release of this information. 

These allegations have not been tested in court. 

Press Conference

On Thursday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre held a press conference about the government’s recent release of the documents concerning the two scientists from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.

“We have just received these documents that Trudeau has been covering up, for years.  Documents related to a massive security breach at the Trudeau government’s most sensitive laboratory where the most dangerous viruses and pathogens are studied and handled,” he said.

“We have learned that the Trudeau government’s head of pathogens was collaborating with members of Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army who are responsible for bioweapons and bioterrorism.  We know now that a People’s Liberation Army official was able to gain personal access walk in the door look at computers it has access to all of our most important virological secrets.”

He then read excerpts from the documents.

You can read the documents as tabled in the House of Commons in PDF format HERE, a link we found in the Globe and Mail article ‘Censored documents about Winnipeg scientists reveal threat to Canada’s security’.

It Wasn’t Only the Canadian Biolab that Was Compromised

The following are excerpts from a research report published by the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies titled ‘The Covid-19 Crisis: Impact and Implications’ by Efraim Karsh which was published on 1 July 2020.

The Chinese interest in Ebola, Nipah, Marburg, and Rift Valley fever might possibly be beyond scientific and medical needs. Significantly, only the Nipah virus is naturally found in China or neighbouring countries. That being the case, the interface between Qiu and China is a priori highly suspicious.

The shipment of the two viruses from NML to China is alarming unto itself, but it also raises the question of what other shipments of viruses or other items might have been made to China between 2006 and 2018.

Qiu’s research has not only been conducted on behalf of Canada and China. In 2018, she collaborated with three scientists from the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Maryland, studying post-exposure immunotherapy for two Ebola viruses and Marburg virus in monkeys. Those activities were part of a study supported by the US Defence Threat Reduction Agency.

Featured image: Xiangguo Qiu at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg. Source: CBC