A parliamentary committee in the House of Commons has agreed to investigate the security screening procedures in Canada following the arrest of a Canadian NATO intern by Belgian authorities on espionage charges.
This decision was made shortly after the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois demanded an emergency committee meeting to look into the spying accusations against the Canadian intern. During the meeting of the public safety and national security committee on Monday, Members of Parliament from various parties joined forces to schedule three sessions to delve into the matter when Parliament reconvenes in September.
The committee plans to summon Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree as a witness and may call upon other relevant individuals to testify. Subsequently, it will present its conclusions and suggestions to the House.
Although the Belgian courts do not disclose the identities of individuals involved in criminal investigations until trial, an investigation by CBC News revealed the intern in question as Biwei Zhang. Zhang, a systems engineer with an economics background, was interning at NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium.
It was disclosed through the investigation that Biwei Zhang is the legal name of the suspect, but she uses the professional name Claire Zhang and the name Catina Zhang on her Facebook profile. Belgian authorities suspect Zhang of spying for a foreign nation and being associated with a criminal network.
The security clearance for the NATO internship obtained by Zhang involved a thorough background check, a process handled by Canadian authorities, specifically the RCMP and CSIS, as Zhang is a Canadian citizen.
Conservative public safety critic Frank Caputo penned an open letter to the chair of the public safety committee requesting parliamentary oversight due to the gravity of the spying allegations against Zhang. Caputo raised concerns about the processes involved in allowing an individual accused of espionage to secure an internship at a crucial military alliance and inquired about the security screening measures in place at the time.
Following the arrest of the alleged spy by Belgian officials, Canada’s public safety minister pledged to get to the bottom of the situation, emphasizing the severity of the charges. Prime Minister Mark Carney affirmed that Canadian officials have been actively engaged in the case since its inception.
CBC News also discovered that the former NATO intern had held positions within various departments of the Canadian government. The investigation revealed that Zhang had previously worked as an economist at Statistics Canada and a systems engineer at the Canadian Space Agency. In a separate incident in 2023, the Public Service Commission of Canada found Zhang guilty of fraud for applying to the Canada Border Services Agency under different names and emails, leading to a dismissal of her application by a federal judge in 2024.
According to her resume, Zhang has also worked at the World Trade Organization in Geneva and the European Space Agency in Italy. She recently completed a master’s degree in computer science with a specialization in artificial intelligence from the University of Ottawa.
The day before the arrest on charges of espionage and involvement in a criminal organization, Belgian authorities conducted searches at Zhang’s residence and workplace at SHAPE, as stated by the country’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office.
