A parliamentary committee in the House of Commons has agreed to investigate Canada’s security screening procedures following the arrest of a Canadian NATO intern by Belgian authorities on charges of espionage. This decision was made after the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois requested an emergency committee meeting to address the spying allegations against the intern.
During a meeting of the public safety and national security committee, Members of Parliament from various parties agreed to schedule three meetings to delve into the issue when Parliament reconvenes in September. The committee plans to summon Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree and any other relevant witnesses to provide testimony. Subsequently, the committee will present its findings and recommendations to the House.
Although the identity of the defendant in the Belgian criminal investigation has not been disclosed publicly, a CBC News investigation revealed that the accused spy is Biwei Zhang, a systems engineer with an economics background who was interning at NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium.
Biwei Zhang, also known professionally as Claire Zhang and as Catina Zhang on her Facebook profile, is suspected by Belgian authorities of espionage on behalf of a third country and involvement in a criminal organization.
The recent events have sparked concerns about Canada’s security screening processes, with Conservative public safety critic Frank Caputo urging parliamentary scrutiny to address the grave allegations against Zhang. These allegations have raised questions about how an individual accused of espionage managed to secure an internship within a significant military alliance like NATO and the adequacy of security screening, information-sharing, and monitoring protocols in place at that time.
The internship at NATO that Zhang held required a thorough security clearance, a process that Canadian authorities, specifically the RCMP and CSIS, would have been responsible for conducting, given her Canadian citizenship.
Following the arrest of the alleged spy by Belgian authorities, Canada’s public safety minister pledged to investigate the matter thoroughly, acknowledging the gravity of the charges. Prime Minister Mark Carney later affirmed that Canadian officials have been actively involved since the beginning of the case.
CBC News uncovered that Zhang had previously worked in various roles within the Canadian government, including as an economist at Statistics Canada and a systems engineer at the Canadian Space Agency. In a previous incident in 2023, the Public Service Commission of Canada found Zhang guilty of fraud for applying to the Canada Border Services Agency under different names and emails without clarifying the multiple applications. Zhang’s request for a judicial review was dismissed by a federal judge in 2024.
Additionally, Zhang had held positions at the World Trade Organization in Geneva and the European Space Agency in Italy. She recently completed a master’s degree in computer science with a specialization in artificial intelligence from the University of Ottawa.
The day before the intern was arrested for espionage and criminal organization involvement, Belgian authorities conducted searches at her residence and workplace at SHAPE, as announced by the country’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office.