Trudeau Foundation Has Investments in Chinese Companies Flagged for Security Risks, Says Former Board Member

The Trudeau Foundation office in Montreal on April 19, 2023. (Noé Chartier/The Epoch Times)

The Trudeau Foundation has investments in Chinese companies Baidu and Tencent, a former board member told MPs on a parliamentary committee. Both companies have been subjects of security warnings.

The Trudeau Foundation was created with a $125 million endowment from the federal government in 2001 in memory of former prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, to provide grants and academic scholarships.

Madeleine Redfern, a businesswomen and the former mayor of Iqaluit, says that 0.07 percent of the foundation’s portfolio is invested in Chinese tech giants Tencent and Baidu.

Redfern, who sat on the finance and investment committee of the Trudeau Foundation, testified before the House of Commons ethics committee on June 2 as part of its study on foreign interference. She said she inquired with the foundation a year ago about whether it had investments in China.

“When you wanted to know more on foreign investments, did they work with you, or did they make things difficult for you?” asked Bloc Québécois MP René Villemure.

“I definitely had some concerns around the possibility of Chinese investments depending on where those investments were,” said Redfern.

Redfern had taken stances critical of Beijing and its investments in Canada in previous testimony before the national defence committee in November 2022.

She said it was “very concerning and problematic to see Chinese telecommunications infrastructure being provided to Canada’s north,” in reference to Beijing-linked telecom giant Huawei.

“It is a massive—not only personal but regional and national—security risk,” Redfern said on Nov. 29, 2022.

After learning about equities in Tencent and Baidu, Redfern said she researched them and found there were privacy issues.

“Two Chinese firms with privacy concerns indeed, and they’re known to be close to the government from the People’s Republic of China,” Villemure said of Redfern’s disclosure.

Tencent is the developer of the widely popular WeChat application. Its use for surveillance and censorship has been documented by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. The Lab has also found privacy issues with Baidu’s browser. U.S.-based cyber defence firm Unit 42 previously reported on Baidu apps on the Android platform leaking sensitive user data.

“I had a fulsome discussion with the members of the committee and the investment firm about how we invest and was told that we have ESG [environmental, social, and corporate governance] principles that guide the investments and that quite a lot of work had been done before my arrival to sort of help direct the firm on how we make investments,” Redfern said.

She confirmed the investment firm she referred to is Willis Towers Watson. Redfern did not provide a dollar amount for the value of the Chinese investments, but the foundation reported over $141.5 million in total investments at fair value in its 2022 annual report. This would represent a little under $100,000 if the 0.07 percent is applied to that amount.

Most of the foundation’s operations are financed by returns on the invested endowment. The foundation didn’t return a request for comment on the Chinese investments.

Governance Crisis

Redfern was among several other board members who resigned from the Trudeau Foundation in April amid a governance crisis over the management of a $140,000 donation from Chinese regime-tied entities in 2016.

The Globe and Mail reported in late February that the Chinese regime was behind the donation, in an alleged effort to influence Justin Trudeau. It’s been confirmed since that all entities involved in the donation have formal ties to the regime.

“Having been on many different boards over the last 30 years, I was satisfied with the level of governance on the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation until we hit that crisis a couple months ago,” Redfern said.

Other former board members who resigned also testified alongside Redfern and described similar information given to committee by former president and CEO Pascale Fournier.

Dr. Ginger Gibson, director of the consulting firm Firelight Group, said she was the one who presented the motion asking that members who were present when the foundation received Chinese money recuse themselves from the review process.

“We tried to run those motions through a good process, but at each turn ... these motions were struck down,” she said.

“I don’t have the reputation of jumping ship in the middle of a storm, I’ve never done that. I’ve managed many controversial files during my career,” said Dr. Dyane Adam, former vice-chair for the foundation’s board of directors.

“I couldn’t have confidence that this file would be treated with transparency and integrity.”

Edward Johnson, who is currently steering the foundation, testified before the committee on May 9 and criticized the “unwarranted” attacks it is facing.

Johnson announced on April 12 the foundation was launching an independent review of the Chinese donation.

Former foundation president Morris Rosenberg, who was at the helm when the donation was received, testified before the ethics committee on May 2 and said it was a “normal and desirable donation consistent with the foundation’s priorities,” considering the general mood towards China at the time.