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House Hansard - 104

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 28, 2022 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 104 - Sep/28/22
Mr. Michael Cooper (St. Albert—Edmonton, CPC)
  • Sep/28/22 7:43:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, last November, I copied the ministers of health and foreign affairs on a letter that I wrote to the president of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, which falls under the purview of the Minister of Health, regarding the CIHR's blatant mislabelling of Taiwan as a province of China. I wrote this letter after a Taiwanese scholar doing research in Canada brought to my attention that the CIHR's research application process requires Taiwanese applicants to falsely indicate their nationality as “Taiwan—Province of China”, and accordingly requested the president of CIHR to correct this blatant mislabelling. After all, Taiwan is not a province of China. Taiwan consists of a distinct and substantial territory and population, and is governed by a democratic government. Moreover, the People's Republic of China has never controlled, not for one minute, one inch of Taiwanese territory. Nearly a year after I wrote to the president of CIHR, I have heard nothing from anyone at CIHR, nor from the Minister of Health nor the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Six months after I wrote the letter, I attempted to follow up with the Minister of Health in question period. The minister, incredibly, seemed completely unaware of the issue and offered nothing in the way of substance with his answer, but nonetheless undertook to look into the issue and follow up with me. Months later, there has been no follow-up and the mislabelling continues. The minister's inaction is completely unacceptable. This is not a new issue. This has been going on for years, and it has been repeatedly brought to the attention of the Liberal government, including by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. Why the inaction? When will the Minister of Health finally get around to directing the CIHR to stop this blatant mislabelling of Taiwan?
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