3 NGOs, 2 elections and 1 petition: key facts about Ally Wang, the B.C. woman who initiated a petition against foregin agent registry
Senator Victor Oh is also actively promoting Petition e-4395.
Over the past few months, a lot of shocking details of China's interference in Canada have been revealed, including allegations of election meddling and Chinese diplomat targeting Canadian MPs who are critical of the Chinese government. In the meantime, a petition urging the Canadian government to reconsider a foreign agent registry, e-4395, is rapidly circulating in the Chinese Canadian community.
A month ago, Global News published a report about this petition, raising the question of why an Ontario MP would sponsor a petition initiated by an individual in Coquitlam, B.C., a place more than 4,000 kilometres away from his riding.
However, many more mysteries surrounding Petition e-4395 remain to be uncovered. Here are some of the facts we discovered and believe Canadians deserve to know.
1) The petitioner, Li Wang (aka Ally Wang, 王立), has a long history of siding with Beijing.
On the parliament’s online petition page, it shows the petition is initiated by LI WANG from Coquitlam, British Columbia. The Global News report simply refers to the petitioner as ‘an individual in Coquitlam, B.C,’, but didn’t dig more into Wang’s background.
Li Wang (王立), also known as Ally Wang or Dr. Li Wang, is a writer, an anti-SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) activist, and a self-proclaimed anti-racism advocate.
Wang rose to prominence around 2019 through her fervent campaign for the People’s Party of Canada (PC) and its candidates, particularly Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, a Christian TV host who is openly against the B.C. government’s SOGI curriculum.
Most of Wang’s articles are posted on Rise Weekly (高度周刊), a Chinese-language publication based in B.C. that publishes numerous content opposing refugees, Muslims, and the LGBTQ+ community. In matters related to China, Rise Weekly demonstrates a strong alignment with Beijing.
In the past few years, Wang suddenly became an activist against anti-Asian racism and promoted Chinese Canada's participation in Canadian politics.
Wang co-founded or is involved in the operation of several NGOs, including the Maple Leafs Anti-Racism Actions Association (MLARA) in May 2020, the Stop Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Advocacy Group (SAAHCAG,反对仇恨亚裔犯罪关注组) in the spring of 2021 and the Chinese Canadians Goto Vote Association (CCGTV, 加拿大华裔投票促进会) in August 2021. Ivan Pak (白巍), a former PPC candidate, is also the co-founder of these organizations.
Although Wang and Pak have a history of opposing vulnerable groups, they have started to speak on behalf of the victims of anti-Asian racism since 2021.
Wang and Pak organized various rallies, events and even filed a lawsuit against racism in Canada. However, it is notable that they never criticized the Chinese government, despite its overt implementation of the most severe forms of racism and genocide against one million Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region.
Instead, Wang and Pak actively defended genocide deniers in Canada, including Senator Yuen Pau Woo (胡元豹) and former judge Bill Yee (余宏荣). They labeled those who criticized Yee and Woo as racists.
Furthermore, MLARA, the NGO found in 2020, was created with the intention of raising funds for a libel lawsuit against Sam Cooper, a Canadian journalist who is critical of the Chinese government.
Ally Wang is closely associated with Chinese Canadian columnist Ding Guo (丁果), who has parrotted Beijing’s talking points for over a decade. Ding is well-known in the Chinese Canadian community as a good friend of B.C. Premier David Eby (尹大卫).
During the 2021 election, Rise Weekly and Ally Wang’s CCGTV co-organized a series of candidate interviews, specifically asking candidates about their attitudes towards Kenny Chiu’s foreign influence registry bill. Through skilled manipulation, the CCGTV portrayed the bill as racist and managed to obtain commitment against the bill from a number of candidates, including Parm Bains (白恩斯), the Liberal candidate in Steveston-Richmond East, the riding that was previously represented by Kenny Chiu. Bains won the election. Multiple experts allege Steveston-Richmond East was significantly influenced by China’s election interference.
CCGTV was also reported to have partnered with Wang Dianqi (王典奇), a businessman with strong links to Beijing and has repeatedly met CCP supreme leader Xi Jinping, to campaign for Parm Bains.
Moreover, in the early stage of the 2021 election, CCGTV utilized the New National Security Guidelines for Research Partnership, to screen and influence Canadian candidates. This federal policy aims to safeguard Canada’s national security in the academic field, by requiring researchers applying for federal funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)'s partnership program to complete a mandatory questionnaire assessing national security risks.
CCGTV send out a standardized email to all the candidates in the 2021 election, asking them questions about racism, and whether they’d oppose the New National Security Guidelines for Research Partnership. Rise Weekly also published an article against the New National Security Guidelines for Research Partnership.
CCGTV not only campaigns in B.C., it has also mobilized countless people across Canada during the 2021 election. Weng Guoning (翁国宁), chairman of the Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations (CTCCO), released a video calling on Chinese Canadians to vote.
CTCCO leaders stationed themselves at the entrance of Chinese food stores, handing out campaign pamphlets to customers. All the volunteers there, including the cashiers at the Chinese food stores were attired in T-shirts displaying CCGTV’s slogan, ‘Your Vote Matters’.
Weng Guoning was also the leader of the Canada Toronto Fuqing Business Association (CTFQBA), a group allegedly hosts one of China’s secret ‘police stations’ in Toronto. CTCCO was considered by some to be an unofficial lobby group for the Chinese consulate, according to the Globe and Mail.
In summary, Ally Wang, aka Li Wang, the individual who initiated Petition e-4395 urging the Canadian government to rethink the foreign influence registry, has a long track record of aligning with Beijing. These are facts that mainstream media should not overlook in their reporting.
2) Petition e-4395 was instructed by Senator Yuen Pau Woo
At first glance, E-4395 may appear to have been initiated by a resident of British Columbia. However, according to an article written by Ally Wang and published on Rise Weekly on April 26, 2023, the petition was actually instructed by Senator Yuen Pau Woo.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Found in Translation to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.