The federal government and the three main opposition parties have agreed to set up a special committee of MPs that will have unrestricted access to all national security documents related to the firing of two infectious disease scientists at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. Government House Leader Mark Holland said Tuesday that his Conservative, Bloc and NDP counterparts have signed a memorandum of understanding that will allow MPs on an ad hoc committee to find out why Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng , were fired in January 2021. The committee will also see all classified documents related to the transfer of the Ebola and Henipah viruses, under the supervision of Dr. Qiu, at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, China in March 2019. Exactly why the two scientists were fired was a contentious political issue. Initially, the government did not release any information about the reason for the dismissals and even took House Speaker Anthony Rota to court last year for trying to obtain the classified documents. The Liberals abandoned the effort when the 2021 election was called. The whereabouts of the fired Winnipeg scientists at the center of a national security investigation is still unclear More than 250 pages of files have been withheld in their entirety from MPs and hundreds more have been partially censored. The government had warned that their release could endanger national security. “What they will have access to is all the documents that have not been redacted in their entirety. They will be able to see behind the curtain on every aspect,” Mr. Holland told The Globe and Mail. Members of the committee must sign an oath of secrecy and will be invited to view the classified documents in a secure facility, he added. Any dispute over what information or documents can be released will be heard by a panel of three retired judges, who have yet to be appointed. “This is an incredibly important moment for Parliament,” Mr Holland said. “It is absolutely essential that MPs can scrutinize every nook and cranny of government and its operations.” Just before Christmas, the government proposed the ad hoc commission with a panel of judges as arbitrators. The committee is not a committee of Parliament, which means it will not have the authority and investigative powers of the House of Commons. In April, Mr. Holland struck a deal with the NDP to set up the ad hoc committee after the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois insisted the documents be submitted to a formal parliamentary committee and suggested providing House of Commons vet documents. to the deputies. Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong said his party would prefer a parliamentary committee – which would have more powers and the unfettered right to request access to additional documents. He said the Conservatives wanted to resurrect the 43rd Parliament effort – before the 2021 election, in which a Commons committee requested the documents – but the government refused. “The Liberals have left us with no choice but to go down this road,” he said. Mr Chong said it was nevertheless important for MPs to get to the heart of the matter. “Clearly there were breaches of national security and military researchers from the People’s Republic of China were admitted to the lab by the government and we need to understand why that happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “It was a major security breach.” Mr. Chong said the Conservatives do not have confidence that the Winnipeg lab is sufficiently secure from foreign interference. Mr. Holland said the ad hoc committee would mirror one created by the former Conservative government in 2010 to review the release of documents related to Canada’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan. The Globe reported that Dr. Qiu, her husband and other scientists at the lab collaborated with Chinese military researchers to study and conduct experiments on deadly pathogens such as Ebola, Lassa fever and Rift Valley fever. One of the Chinese researchers, Feihu Yan of the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Military Medical Sciences, worked for a time at the Winnipeg lab. Dr. Qiu also collaborated on Ebola research with Major General Chen Wei, the top epidemiologist and virologist in the Chinese military. The name of Dr. Qiu is listed as a co-author on more than 120 scientific research papers published between 2000 and 2021. A significant number were collaborations with Chinese scientists, and much of the research was funded by Chinese government agencies. She and her husband lost their security clearances in July 2019 and the RCMP were called in to investigate. Dr. Qiu, who headed the lab’s vaccine and antiviral therapy development department, and Mr. Cheng were eventually fired in January 2021. The RCMP is investigating whether the fired scientists transferred Canadian intellectual property to China. The investigation focuses on the possibility that materials such as plasma DNA molecules, which could be used to recreate vaccines or viruses, were transferred to Chinese authorities without the approval of Public Health Canada. Four months before the scientists were kicked out of the lab, access to information documents show, Dr. Qiu played a role in bringing two highly infectious viruses – Ebola and Henipah – to the Chinese facility in Wuhan. The Public Health Agency of Canada said all protocols were followed, but the documents show the shipments did not have a standard material transfer agreement setting out intellectual property rights. Other national security issues include the fact that students from China had access to the high-security lab. Dr. Qiu was able to bring graduate and post-graduate students from China studying at the University of Manitoba to the facility. It remains unclear how these students got security clearance to enter the lab, which is equipped to handle the world’s most dangerous viruses. NDP House Leader Peter Julian said the memorandum of understanding between the parties strikes a careful balance. “There are unresolved questions about the events that led to the dismissal of these scientists. The New Democrats believe this MoU is a good way forward that balances the need for more transparency with the need to treat these documents with due care,” said Mr Julian. Bloc Québécois House leader Alain Therrien said his party is ready to begin examining the secret documents. “After 18 months, it is time for the commission to begin its investigation,” he said.
