Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand speaks to the press as she arrives at NATO headquarters for a NATO Foreign Affairs Ministers’ meeting on December 03, 2025 in Brussels, Belgium.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says her department is aware of and “closely following” the recent attack on a Falun Gong practitioner who was protesting outside the Chinese Consulate in Toronto.
“Global Affairs Canada is aware of, and closely [f]ollowing, the troubling incident that occurred on September 22, 2026, involving a peaceful Falun Gong protester on the sidewalk outside the Chinese Consulate in Toronto,” Anand wrote in an Oct. 22 letter to Conservative MP Jacob Mantle, who had written to the minister about the attack.
Videos of the attack show a man wearing a jacket bearing a patch of a Chinese flag attacking Falun Gong practitioners Lina Li and Nora Geng outside the consulate on Sept. 22. The two were standing on a public sidewalk outside the consulate with a banner display that raised awareness about the Chinese communist regime’s persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline.
A man attacks a Falun Gong practitioner on a public sidewalk outside the Chinese Consulate in Toronto on Sept. 22, 2026. Screenshot/Handout
The man was seen damaging the banner display and pushing Li while uttering death threats as she attempted to protect the banners. The man also claimed the sidewalk was “Chinese territory,” cited China’s Anti-Secession Law, and attempted to kick Geng as she was recording a video of him.
Toronto Police responded to the incident at the scene and has said the matter is under investigation.
Anand said in her letter that Global Affairs Canada officials are “in communication with domestic security agencies with respect to any possible international nexus” and “understand that the incident is currently under investigation by both local police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”
She also said she and Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree are “closely following the matter” and “will ensure that Canada takes the necessary steps in response to this incident.”
“Please be assured that the Government of Canada takes threats to the safety and security of Canadians and all those in Canada very seriously and has response frameworks in place to address concerns over transnational repression,” Anand wrote.
“Canada will never tolerate acts of foreign interference or transnational repression against its citizens or those in Canada.”
She noted that Ottawa condemns transnational repression “in the strongest terms” and “in all its forms.” Canada and other G7 countries had said in a June 2025 joint statement that transnational repression is “an aggressive form of foreign interference whereby states or their proxies attempt to intimidate, harass, harm or coerce individuals or communities outside their borders.”
‘Not Acceptable’
Anand’s letter comes in response to a letter Mantle wrote to her and posted on social media on Oct. 13. Mantle had asked Anand to investigate the attack and expel the attacker from Canada if he is found to be an agent of Beijing.
“Violent actions against peaceful demonstrators are not acceptable in Canada,” Mantle wrote in his letter. “I am sure you will agree that it is unacceptable for foreign state actors to engage in this behaviour, which undoubtedly violates all accepted norms of diplomatic conduct.”
Mantle said foreign agents have “no right or immunity to threaten or intimidate any person in Canada.”
“As can be readily seen in publicly available videos of the incident, the man accosts the demonstrator, destroys her signage, and threatens her with violence and with the application of Chinese law,” he wrote.
He added that in the 2025 election campaign, “the Prime Minister said that China is Canada’s biggest security threat,” referring to Mark Carney. Mantle also referred to the public inquiry into foreign interference, chaired by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, which said in its final report in January 2025 that Beijing is “the most active perpetrator” targeting Canada.
“Consequently, it is incumbent upon you as Minister of Foreign Affairs to act when China seeks to undermine democracy and freedom in Canada,” Mantle wrote.
Posting Anand’s reply letter on social media, Mantle said the Liberal government’s response to the incident “is nothing.”
“This is why Canada remains a playground for hostile foreign agents,” Mantle said in an Oct. 26 post on X.
Falun Gong practitioners and supporters hold a rally outside Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa on Sept. 28, 2026, to ask the government to condemn the attack on Falun Gong practitioners that took place outside the Chinese Consulate in Toronto on Sept. 22, 2026. Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times
‘Not An Isolated Event’
Falun Gong practitioners and their supporters have also called on Anand to condemn the attack and raise the issue with Beijing. They say that the attack “is not an isolated event” and that Falun Gong practitioners in Canada have for more than two decades reported facing harassment, surveillance, intimidation, threats, and assaults linked to the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution campaign against the spiritual discipline.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a traditional Chinese spiritual practice that combines meditative exercises with moral teachings centred on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. Since 1999, it has been persecuted in China by the communist regime, which saw Falun Gong’s growing popularity as a threat to its rule and set out to eradicate the discipline.
Reports indicate practitioners have faced mass detention, torture, imprisonment in labour camps, and forced harvesting of their organs.
The Falun Dafa Association of Canada (FDAC) issued a statement in September asking Anand to convey to Beijing that “any attempt to intimidate, threaten, or suppress people in Canada for their beliefs or lawful expression is unacceptable.”
The association also requested that Anand seek clarification from the Chinese Consulate as to whether any of its diplomats or affiliated personnel were involved in the attack, and if so, to take appropriate diplomatic measures.
Additionally, the association called on Anand to work with Anandasangaree to continue to strengthen Canada’s response to Beijing’s transnational repression.
Public Safety Canada told The Epoch Times last month that the government takes threats to the safety and security of Canadians seriously and is taking action to respond to foreign interference and transnational repression.