Beijing's Deep Concern for Human Dignity

"The facts of the crimes committed by the Canadian nationals involved in the cases are clear, and the evidence is solid and sufficient."

"The Chinese judicial authorities have handled the cases in strict accordance with the law, and have fully guaranteed the rights and interests of the Canadian nationals concerned."

"China always imposes severe penalties on drug-related crimes and maintains a 'zero tolerance' attitude toward the drug problem."

"[Canada should] respect the rule of law and China's judicial sovereignty [and] stop making irresponsible remarks."

China's Ottawa Embassy 

"Global Affairs Canada [Canadian Foreign Affairs Department] can confirm it is aware that, earlier this year, Canadians were executed in the People's Republic of China."

"Canada strongly condemns China's use of the death penalty, which is irreversible and inconsistent with basic human dignity."

"Canada repeatedly called for clemency for these individuals at the senior-most levels."

Foreign Affairs Canada 

The Chinese flag flies outside Beijing’s embassy to Canada in Ottawa. (Photo: Jharnett44 via Wikimedia Commons)  

 

China is distinct in the world for many reasons, and one of its distinctions is its free use of the death penalty for what it considers to be capital offense crimes. Although there are many countries across the globe that continue to use the death penalty -- the United States among them -- China has the distinction of putting more people to death as a crime penalty than all other countries combined. A runner-up in the state-death competition is the Islamic Republic of Iran whose mode of execution includes hanging, crucifixion, stoning and firing squads.

 

China's choice of state execution for those judged to have run afoul of its criminal laws in capital offenses also die by firing squads, although Beijing has latterly introduced lethal injections as well. Once a charge has been laid by the state of anyone having committed a capital offense, it is almost unknown for a court to strike a trial, instead rubber-stamping guilt with the accompanying penalty of execution. With its vast population of over 1.4 billion people, Beijing is not known to be sensitive to any concept as remote to it as 'human rights'.

 

In the instance of the publicly newly-revealed death by state execution of Canadian citizens, neither the Chinese embassy in Canada's capital of Ottawa or Canada's Foreign Affairs department divulged just how many Canadians had been executed, nor identified those executed by publishing their names. An Abbotsford, British Columbia native, Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, known to have been sentenced to death by a Chinese court in 2019 on a charge of drug smuggling, however, was not among the executed. 

 

A photo submitted by the RCMP shows a clandestine drug lab where Mounties say a large quantity of fentanyl was discovered in Mission, B.C. in November 2023. (submitted by Mission RCMP)

Those who met their untimely fate may have been dual citizens of Canada and China. China does not recognize or give credence to dual citizenship, and feels no diplomatic sensitivity in ignoring Canadian citizenship alongside Chinese citizenship. Although the Chinese head of mission at the embassy in Ottawa did not clarify whether any of these executed were involved in drug smuggling or trafficking, they did state that Beijing has a "zero tolerance" approach to drug crime.

 

There are, it seems, altogether 100 Canadians currently detained in China. It is interesting to note that while China deals severely with anyone identified and caught being involved in the drug trade, it is from China that the artificial, laboratory-produced opioid Fentanyl arrived in North America to wreak deadly havoc in Canada and the United States. Although on appeal Beijing listed fentanyl making it illegal to transport or sell it abroad, the precursor chemicals associated with fentanyl production still emanate from Chinese labs, where criminal gangs in North America employ 'cooks' to produce lethal fentanyl.

 

Health Canada says it can only take a few grains of fentanyl to kill someone. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

"As in pre­vi­ous years, exe­cu­tion totals do not include the esti­mat­ed thou­sands of exe­cu­tions car­ried out by the world’s lead­ing exe­cu­tion­er, China, where exe­cu­tion data is con­sid­ered a state secret; secre­cy prac­tices and chal­lenges access­ing infor­ma­tion in Afghanistan, North Korea, Palestine, Syria, and Vietnam also cre­at­ed dif­fi­cul­ties in iden­ti­fy­ing min­i­mum totals. This world­wide increase was pri­mar­i­ly dri­ven by a 48% rise in exe­cu­tions in Iran, which account­ed for 74% of exe­cu­tions world­wide. Iran (at least 853 exe­cu­tions), Saudi Arabia (172 exe­cu­tions), Somalia (at least 38 exe­cu­tions), the U.S. (24 exe­cu­tions), and Iraq (at least 16 exe­cu­tions) were the top five coun­tries respon­si­ble for record­ed exe­cu­tions."

Death Penalty Information Center