Conservative and Bloc Members of Parliament are urging the House of Commons public safety committee to hold an urgent meeting to investigate espionage accusations against a former Canadian intern detained by Belgian authorities for suspected espionage. Frank Caputo, a Conservative MP, expressed serious concerns about the allegations, emphasizing the need to assess Canada’s national security screening procedures. The intern in question, Biwei Zhang, was working at NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium. While Belgian officials did not disclose her identity, a CBC News probe identified her as Zhang, a systems engineer with an economics background.
Zhang’s online profile indicates previous employment with the Canadian Space Agency and Statistics Canada. Reports from security sources in Europe, including Reuters, suggest that Zhang displayed suspicious behavior that attracted NATO’s internal security services’ attention. Allegedly, she showed excessive interest in her colleagues, ventured into unauthorized areas, and accessed files beyond her role in SHAPE’s IT Department. Zhang is currently detained by Belgian security authorities, with the allegations against her yet to be proven in court.
In response to the situation, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree has promised a thorough investigation into Canada’s security screening processes to uncover any potential lapses that allowed Zhang to secure the internship at NATO’s military base. Caputo stressed the importance of parliamentary scrutiny to address the concerns raised by the case. The incident has prompted discussions about the effectiveness of Canada’s security screening protocols, with Anandasangaree underlining the necessity to prevent similar incidents in the future. Prime Minister Mark Carney indicated that Canadian security agencies were actively involved from the outset of the espionage probe.