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As Prime Minister Mark Carney attempts a diplomatic reset with China and India, his government has yet to name its candidate to oversee the promised foreign interference registry to address the threat of political meddling and transnational repression.

But as public attention shifts toward economic concerns over human rights, NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.) says the federal government must “walk and chew gum at the same time,” and remain focused on protecting Canadians caught in the crosshairs of foreign influence.

“The federal government can’t take its eyes off the need to protect Canadians and our democratic institutions,” said Kwan, her party’s public safety and national security critic, in an interview with The Hill Times. Her comments came as Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand (Oakville East, Ont.) wrapped up travel to India and China for talks with government officials.

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While Hogue noted that the previous Trudeau government had “taken too long to act” and “proven to be a poor communicator and insufficiently transparent,” she acknowledged signs the government had begun “prioritizing” the issue over the course of the inquiry and in the previous two years.

Since then, however, Kwan said it has been “mystifying” how quickly Carney’s team had seemingly forgotten those lessons.

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“It’s mystifying to me why the Liberals have taken so long and still have yet to fully put in place the commissioner and the registry. This should have been done before the last election,” Kwan said. She called the government’s attempt to reset relations with China while “paying lip service” to the threat of foreign interference “deeply concerning.”

While the issue may not be a top concerns for many Canadians, for those being targeted, it can be “a matter of life and death,” Kwan said.

In 2023, Kwan was briefed by Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), which warned her she remains an “evergreen target” for Beijing due to her advocacy on Chinese human rights. Chong and his family have also faced alleged interference and intimidation by the Chinese government for his condemnation of Beijing’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims as a genocide.

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Kwan said that while Canadians may be more focused on the financial pressures in their daily lives to the exclusion of everything else, the federal government can’t afford to lose focus.

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[Dan] Stanton, a former CSIS executive manager, said that “someone in government” had clearly decided to hold off on the naming of a new commissioner as it would have made things “awkward” for Anand.

“Even though the registry is technically country agnostic, let’s not kid ourselves: most of the calls for it were about China and India,” said Stanton, now director of national security at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute. “The Chinese would have been very sensitive to the move if Anand was visiting Beijing while Ottawa was launching the registry.”

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“Chinese-Canadian communities continue to face transnational repression, and we’re still dealing with Uyghur issues and the crackdown in Hong Kong,” Stanton added. “These concerns won’t just fade into the sunset as we attempt to repair our relationships China or India.”

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Stanton said that regardless of what politicians say publicly, “economic interests almost always outweigh concerns about human rights or the rule of law.” Still, as Canada resets its relationships with China and India, there needs to be some attempt at a counterbalance, he said.

“Our sovereignty has been violated by China, just as it has been with India, and part of that rebalancing is the registry,” Stanton said. “Canada does need to re-engage, but we need to go into this with eyes wide open, and communicate to Canadians that we value human rights with concrete action.”