OTTAWA — The only one of the first three filings in Canada’s new foreign-influence registry involving a Chinese principal has disappeared from public view, with officials blaming an unresolved technical failure that has prevented the record from being restored.
The failure compounds problems in a fledgling national-security transparency system already confronted by a privacy breach, disrupted meetings and complaints about its technology and guidance. The latest malfunction has left the registry unable to display one of the first three disclosures it reviewed and published.
In response to questions about the missing registration involving The Canada Files Media and CGTN Français, the Office of the Foreign Influence Commissioner of Canada said information in the registry became temporarily unavailable on September 15 because of a problem transferring data from submission forms to the public database.
“Two of the three submissions that were initially published have been restored,” the office said. “Technical issues with registry will need to be resolved before the third submission can be published.”
As of publication, the live registry displayed only two entries: Gerald Chipeur, a Calgary lawyer and honorary consul for the Republic of Korea in Alberta, and Raquel Garbers, a former senior National Defence official who declared a teaching engagement for the United States Department of State in Thailand and Taiwan.
The Canada Files entry remained unavailable.
A capture of the official Canada.ca disclosure, dated September 14 in the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, identifies The Canada Files Media as the registrant and CGTN Français as its foreign principal. The Bureau has retained a copy and is publishing an image of the record.
The registry malfunction occurred on September 15, the same day The Bureau published two reports examining the system’s first weeks of operation. The archived filing states that the Ontario-based company listed compensation of 4,000 Chinese yuan—approximately $823—for an arrangement with CGTN Français running from August 5 to August 13. It describes two sponsored productions and states that the objective was “to have more Canadians be supportive of China’s management of its domestic political affairs.”
It identified two sponsored productions: a video explainer whose title translates as “Shared Prosperity, Guaranteed Dignity: China’s Vision of Human Rights,” published August 11, and a documentary whose title translates as “Dad, Is This Train Going to Lhasa?”, published August 13.
The material promoted China’s approach to human rights and presented a favourable account of Chinese development in Tibet.
In its introduction to the human-rights video, The Canada Files praised poverty reduction and argued that protecting human rights does not require Western-style democratic elections. Its description of the documentary highlighted Chinese government railway investment that it said had created economic opportunities for young people in Tibet.
Eighteen days after the paid arrangement ended, The Canada Files published a separate article criticizing Tibetan exile organizations’ influence on Canadian parliamentarians. It highlighted their funding from the National Endowment for Democracy, which it described as a “CIA-front.”
CGTN Français is the French-language service of China Global Television Network.
In a 2021 licensing decision, Britain’s broadcast regulator documented CGTN Corporation’s ownership through China Central Television and its ultimate control by the Chinese Communist Party.
Ofcom revoked CGTN’s British broadcast licence after finding that its licence holder lacked editorial responsibility. It rejected a proposed transfer of the licence to CGTN Corporation on grounds that included political control.
The Bureau’s second September 15 report disclosed that the registry had suffered a privacy breach involving Charles Burton, a prominent China expert who says he has been subjected to Chinese state surveillance.
In an August 20 letter obtained by The Bureau, Public Safety Canada told Burton that the commissioner’s office had mistakenly emailed a response concerning his registration submission to another person the previous day.
The letter called the incident a privacy breach and said the exposed information included Burton’s name, an administrative submission number and the office’s determination that his registration was ineligible.
Burton told The Bureau that, before the registry opened, he warned its leadership that CSIS had informed him the Chinese government had monitored his unencrypted communications since 2012.
He also said he was detained and interrogated by China’s Ministry of State Security in 2018 and believed, based on that interrogation, that the monitoring remained active at the time.
CSIS declined to confirm or deny Burton’s account, saying it does not publicly discuss specific engagement activities or investigations.
Correspondence obtained by The Bureau shows that Burton and lawyer Sarah Teich had asked the commissioner’s office to establish encrypted communications for civil-society participants who could face foreign surveillance or intimidation.
A second person, whose status as a registry applicant The Bureau independently verified and whose identity it is withholding, described the electronic process as nearly unworkable.
The applicant said the system appeared to have been hastily assembled, its information-technology problems were severe, its instructions were inadequate and its forms were poorly designed.
The registry began accepting submissions on August 4 under the Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act.
At its launch, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree and Commissioner Anton Boegman presented it as a means of strengthening transparency and public confidence in Canada’s response to foreign interference.
Boegman said the public system would give Canadians greater insight into how foreign influence is exercised, on whose behalf and how it could shape public decision-making.
