Senator McPhedran: Senator Gold, could you add to that inquiry, please, a specific request to specify what kind of transparency and accountability mechanisms are in place or are planned to be put in place?

Hon. Marilou McPhedran: Honourable senators, I want to thank colleagues in the Canadian Senators Group for this opportunity to ask a question. It’s a rare and generous offer.

The 2022 Hong Kong Watch report recently revealed that Canada has holdings in Chinese companies on the U.S. sanctions list and companies that have provided equipment used in camps where it’s estimated that about a million Uighurs are still detained.

Respected former parliamentarians Irwin Cotler and David Kilgour noted that Canada Pension Plan investments are more than $50 billion in Chinese companies. In addition, other pension plan investments have been reported to have been made in companies connected to the forced labour of Uighurs. We also have reports of several provincial Crown investment management corporations listed as investing in equities and companies accused of human rights violations in China. Perhaps more shocking is the fact that Canadian universities have endowment funds invested with firms that are exposed to these inequities.

Although we condemn the genocide, we continue what Hong Kong Watch has called “passively supporting oppression” by investing in Chinese equities with proven links to industries in contravention of human rights.

My question, Senator Gold: How is Canada identifying violators? What is Canada doing to ensure that public and private investments, such as the Canada Pension Plan, are not contributing to these human rights violations by investing in such companies?

Senator McPhedran: I wonder, Senator Gold, if you could please ask for an indication of when we might have a public statement from the Government of Canada on both the issue of sexual abuse by high-ranking officials and state disappearances of those who make accusations. Also, what specifically is the Government of Canada prepared to do to address the concerns around this particular case of Peng Shuai?

Hon. Marilou McPhedran: Honourable senators, my question is to Senator Gold.

I ask this question in the midst of the international 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. My question to the government is about Canada speaking out of concern for the safety and freedom of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, which has been in serious doubt since the beginning of November when she accused a powerful former Chinese Communist Party official of sexual assault. Senator Gold, in a recent statement, Human Rights Watch criticized the International Olympic Committee’s, or IOC, eagerness to ignore the voice of an Olympian who may be in danger and to support claims of state-sponsored media in China. Why has Canada not spoken out about this case and called for an independent investigation as other governments have?