The Canada Border Services Agency has referred Rong Xiang Yuan to the Immigration and Refugee Board, which will consider whether he should be allowed to remain in Canada.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
A Chinese businessman who served in the People’s Liberation Army in the 1980s is facing a deportation hearing at Canada’s immigration tribunal amid allegations that he may have misrepresented his military record when applying to live in Canada.
Rong Xiang Yuan, also known as “Tiger” Yuan, has been referred by Canada’s border security agency to the Immigration and Refugee Board, which will consider whether he should be allowed to remain in Canada. The tribunal will look at whether he may have committed war crimes while serving in China’s army during a conflict with Vietnam.
Mr. Yuan, who was born in China and emigrated to Canada in 2008, is the former owner of a gun store in British Columbia.
Since arriving in Canada, Mr. Yuan has spoken at community events in B.C. promoting relations between China and Canada, and was a director of the Canada-China Association For Promoting Friendly Relations, a non-profit.
The Canada Border Services Agency, which is responsible for border security and has its own intelligence division, can request the IRB undertake proceedings to consider whether a foreign national or permanent resident who is believed to have contravened the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act should be allowed to stay in the country. Such requests over alleged war crimes are rare.
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The IRB said, in a statement, that it had “received a referral from the CBSA in the matter of Rong Xiang Yuan for an admissibility hearing under paragraphs 35(1)(a) and 40(1)(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and that a hearing date has not yet been scheduled.”
The first paragraph of the immigration law cited by the IRB relates to foreign nationals or permanent residents being deemed inadmissible to Canada because they engaged in crimes against humanity, war crimes, or gross human rights violations.
The second paragraph cited is about there being grounds for deportation if a foreign national or permanent resident is found to have been “misrepresenting or withholding material facts relating to a relevant matter” that could induce an error in the approval of an immigration application.
Mr. Yuan’s lawyer, Daniel Reid, strenuously denied that his client had any involvement in war crimes or “improper conduct” while serving in China’s military.
“Mr. Yuan denies, in the strongest terms, having violated Canadian or international law during his service in the Chinese armed forces or, decades later, during his immigration to Canada,” he said in a statement on Wednesday. “Mr. Yuan was discharged from the military in 1991 following a serious injury, for which he was awarded the Citation for Merit. He subsequently immigrated to Canada where he has contributed extensively to Canadian and Chinese Canadian communities.”
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Mr. Yuan was born in China in 1962 and joined the People’s Liberation Army as a mortar operator after leaving high school, according to an affidavit he filed in the B.C. Supreme Court as part of a defamation suit against another media outlet.
After graduating from a military academy, he was promoted to second lieutenant and led an army platoon. In 1987, his unit was dispatched to the Sino-Vietnamese border where it fought Vietnamese forces until late 1988, according to the affidavit.
His platoon was sent multiple times behind the lines of the Vietnamese army, including for close-quarters fighting, the affidavit Mr. Yuan provided to the B.C. court said. It adds that he was wounded nine times, including in the head, and had been hit by the butt of a gun, stabbed in the abdomen by a bayonet, and hit by landmines and shells. He was admitted to military hospital and fell into a coma on one occasion. He was awarded a citation for valour in battle.
After leaving the army, Mr. Yuan, according to the affidavit, used his discharge fee to start a business, trading in cars, car parts, coal, grains and timber. His businesses thrived and he became a wealthy and successful businessman.
Mr. Yuan, 64, who does not have Canadian citizenship, travelled between B.C. and China until about 2019, the affidavit said. He is a gun and classic car enthusiast with a private collection of vehicles and guns, including historic firearms from the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War and the American Civil War. He said in his affidavit that he was formerly a gambling addict who had gambled at casinos in Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Germany, Australia and the United States, as well as in Canada, running up millions of dollars in losses here.
The CBSA declined to comment. The IRB said it does not comment on individual cases before the tribunal.