People were helping China acquire sensitive Canadian lab samples, while Ottawa was concerned with how they were feeling

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By Peter Shawn Taylor

The release of over 600 pages of classified documents concerning security breaches at Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg this past February shed a light on one of this country’s most shocking cases of espionage.

NML scientists Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng essentially used Canada’s highest-security biohazard lab as a lending library for Chinese military interests. During her time as head of Vaccines and Antivirals in the NML’s Zoonotic Diseases and Special Pathogens Division, Qiu repeatedly acted on China’s behalf, including by transferring knowledge and materials from the NML to Chinese institutions. The files led bare Canada’s shocking inability to protect its own secrets.

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Another thing revealed by this trove of documents: the extent to which Canada’s national security interests have been subordinated and contorted by bogus concerns about racism and victimology within the federal bureaucracy. Even blatant spies are now treated with kid gloves for fear they’ll complain.

Qiu and Cheng’s suspicious activities were first revealed during a routine “insider threat briefing” at NML by the Canadian........

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