Hong Kong Watch condemns transnational repression against Hong Kongers at Montreal Institute for Global Security and MacDonald Laurier Institute event

On 16 January, Hong Kong Watch’s Policy Advisor Katherine Leung spoke on a panel at an event hosted by the Montreal Institute for Global Security in collaboration with the MacDonald Laurier Institute, on online disinformation and digital transnational repression in Canada. 

Ms Leung spoke alongside John Packer, Director of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre at the University of Ottawa, Daniel Stanton, Director of the National Security Program at uOttawa’s Professional Development Institute, and Phil Gurski, President and Chief Executive of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting.

The panelists explored the digital tactics used to wage transnational repression against diaspora communities and their impact on Canadian democracy. Specifically, Ms Leung focused on how transnational repression targets Hong Kongers in Canada. She outlined individual case studies as well as the impact on the wider community, and provided recommendations to the Government of Canada on how to tackle the issue of transnational repression while building trust with the Hong Kong community.

This event is part of the Canadian Digital Defenders Collective, an initiative supported by the Department of Canadian Heritage. The initiative seeks to strengthen the cognitive resilience of Canadians to online disinformation, hate speech, and foreign influence campaigns by building their capacity to recognize these threats and giving them the tools to address them.

Photo credit: Tristan Brand Productions

香港監察出席加拿大數碼跨國鎮壓研討會

1月16日，香港監察政策顧問Katherine Leung以講者身分出席由智庫Montreal Institute for Global Security聯同MacDonald Laurier Institute合辦的加拿大網上造假資訊及數碼跨國鎮壓研討會。

同場講者有：渥太華大學人權研究暨教育中心主任John Packer、渥太華大學專業發展學院國家安全計劃主任Daniel Stanton，以及Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting總裁兼行政總裁Phil Gurski。

講者探討了用來跨國鎮壓離散社群的數碼手段及其對加拿大民主的影響。Katherine Leung重點討論了跨國鎮壓如何針對在加港人。她簡要講解個案研究及對廣大社區的影響，並就如何在與香港社群建立信任的同時解決跨國鎮壓問題，向加拿大政府提出建議。

這個活動是由加拿大文化遺產部支持的「Canadian Digital Defenders Collective」計劃一環。計劃旨在加強加拿大人對網上造假資訊、仇恨言論和外國影響活動的認知抵禦力，方法是建立識別這些威脅的能力並提供應對這些威脅的工具。