Fired Winnipeg lab scientists did not disclose ‘extensive relationship’ with China

Two scientists fired from Canada’s National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg in 2019 had an “extensive relationship” with China that they did not properly disclose to Canadian health officials, according to documents that were finally released over four years later.

Health Minister Mark Holland announced the tabling of the documents in Parliament on Wednesday, after a special ad-hoc committee formed to review the documents recommended they be released unredacted.

He later told reporters that the documents show an “unacceptable” security situation in the lab.

“The threat environment with respect to foreign interference was in a very different place at that moment” in 2019, Holland said.

“While there were the proper protocols in place, there was a lax adherence to the security protocols in place.”

The documents detail allegations against scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng, who were escorted from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg in July 2019 for reasons public health officials described as “relating to possible breaches in security protocols.” They were subsequently fired in January 2021.

The Winnipeg lab is Canada’s only Level 4 laboratory, designed to deal safely with deadly contagious germs such as the Ebola virus.

At the time the scientists were fired, amid calls from opposition MPs to release unredacted documents related to the issue, then-PHAC president Iain Stewart argued that he was prevented by law from releasing material that could violate privacy or national security laws.

The refusal to hand over documents led the House of Commons to issue its first formal rebuke of a non-MP in nearly 110 years. That came after MPs voted to invoke a rare set of powers to discipline or potentially even