Global Affairs Contacted RCMP, Public Safety After Fake Bomb Threats Targeted Shen Yun

Minister’s statement says bomb threats against Shen Yun ’very troubling’

Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand speaks in the Foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on March 12, 2026. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang

Global Affairs Canada contacted the RCMP and Public Safety Canada after learning about fake bomb threats sent to venues hosting Shen Yun Performing Arts shows across Canada, according to a statement signed by Rob Oliphant, parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, on behalf of the minister.

“Global Affairs Canada [GAC] is aware of the very troubling bombing and mass shooting threats that targeted Shen Yun dance performances across Canada,” reads the statement.

The May 8 statement is a response to a petition presented by Conservative MP Kelly DeRidder to the House of Commons on March 25, which was first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter.

The minister’s response comes after recent incidents of hoax bomb threats targeting theatres across Canada and around the world in an effort to stop Shen Yun from performing. Shen Yun, which performs with the tagline “China Before Communism,” is a New York-based classical Chinese dance company which aims to revive China’s traditional culture. Show organizers say the threats are linked to the Chinese communist regime as part of an effort to stop Shen Yun.

The statement said officials from GAC contacted the RCMP and Public Safety Canada “immediately upon learning of these threats,” and were notified that the RCMP had already been made aware of the threats and were carrying out an investigation.

“Canada will never tolerate acts of foreign interference or transnational repression against its citizens or those in Canada,” the statement said. It also noted that the federal government shares the concern of all parliamentarians regarding “human rights violations that restrict freedom of religion or belief.”

“Canada will always support the rights of Canadians to express themselves freely and peacefully and continues to work internationally, including at the United Nations, to ensure that these universal rights are protected everywhere,” the minister’s statement said.

The petition tabled by DeRidder called on the federal government to publicly call on the Chinese regime to end its persecution of Falun Gong in China as well as its transnational repression abroad. According to Shen Yun, its artists practice Falun Gong.

The petition noted the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has engaged in a decades-long “campaign of eradication” against practitioners of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, a spiritual meditation practice with moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.

The CCP began a violent persecution campaign against Falun Gong practitioners in 1999 when the regime vowed to eliminate the discipline, deeming the practice’s growing popularity a threat to its power. Practitioners have faced severe persecution since then, with reports of torture, forced labour, indoctrination, surveillance, killings, and even forced organ harvesting.

“In Canada, Falun Gong adherents have been subjected to transnational repression and foreign interference by the CCP, including harassment, surveillance, intimidation, disinformation, and other forms of sabotage,” the petition said, noting that recent incidents include bomb and shooting threats targeting Shen Yun.

The petition also called on the federal government to “continue to impose sanctions on and pursue accountability for CCP officials and proxies responsible for these human rights violations,” and to take “stronger measures” to protect the Falun Gong community in Canada.

The minister’s statement said Canada “consistently calls on China to respect, protect, and promote freedom of expression, assembly, association, and religion or belief.” The statement noted that most recently, Anand raised the “situation of human rights in China” directly with her Chinese counterpart in January.

“Canada has publicly voiced concern about the intimidation and repression of, inter alia, religious groups in China, including Falun Gong practitioners, and raises its concerns privately with relevant Chinese authorities whenever possible,” the minister’s statement said.

A Shen Yun poster outside the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto on April 2, 2026. Teng Dongyu/The Epoch Times

Hoax Bomb Threats

Shen Yun began the Toronto leg of its global tour on March 28 and was set to begin its third show at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on March 29, but the show was cancelled by the theatre after it received an emailed bomb threat from an account with a Chinese name.

The theatre also decided to cancel the remaining five scheduled performances through to April 5, despite the Toronto Police Service confirming the threat was unfounded after investigations. The theatre agreed last week to reschedule the Toronto shows in late June after a persistent effort by Shen Yun’s local presenter to bring the performances back.

The same email account that sent the threat to the Toronto theatre also sent threats to the venue hosting Shen Yun in Vancouver. However, the Queen Elizabeth Centre, the Vancouver theatre, chose to proceed with its scheduled shows after the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) confirmed the threats were not credible.

The VPD’s Cyber Crime Unit determined that the phone number associated with the email account from which the threats were sent is based in China.

Pressure Campaign

A report by Global News last week revealed that Vancouver Chinese Consulate officials met with a City of Vancouver employee in early April in an effort to stop the dance company from performing at the city-owned Queen Elizabeth Theatre from April 8 to 12. The meeting with consulate officials was confirmed to The Epoch Times by a city spokesperson.

The Falun Dafa Association of Canada has said the Chinese Consulate’s attempt to interfere with Shen Yun in Vancouver is “part of a blatant interference campaign in a host state by a foreign regime to silence critics here in Canada.”

Joel Chipkar, a spokesperson with the Association, has called on Canadian officials to publicly condemn the CCP’s transnational repression against Shen Yun and Falun Gong in Canada, and to declare the Chinese Consulate officials responsible for the interference efforts in Vancouver as persona non grata and have them expelled.

Conservative MP James Bezan said last week that he agrees the Chinese Consulate officials involved in the interference attempt should be expelled from Canada for engaging in foreign intimidation and transnational repression.

“It’s abuse of authority as well as the license that’s given to them as a diplomat,” Bezan said. “Let’s make sure that they’re all held to account for creating these crimes against the people of Canada.”

Mayor of Amherstburg, Ont., Michael Prue said the Chinese Consulate in Toronto also pressured him to stop supporting Falun Gong last year after the city held a flag-raising ceremony marking the annual World Falun Dafa Day. Prue previously served as an Ontario MPP for 13 years and has spoken out on several occasions against the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.