Huawei CFO Meng’s family granted federal travel exemption to visit Canada

OTTAWA —
Immigration Canada has granted the husband and two children of detained Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou COVID-19 travel exemptions to visit her in Vancouver.

Meng’s lawyers stated in court Tuesday that her husband Liu Xiaozong and two children applied for the exemption to travel from China at the end of 2020.

Syrine Khoury, a spokesperson for the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ office, confirmed to CTV News in a statement that “Ms. Meng’s family was authorized by IRCC officials to travel to Canada.”

Liu arrived in October and was followed by the children in December. They remain in Canada.

Foreign nationals are currently barred from non-essential travel to Canada unless they are visiting immediate family members who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents. Meng Wanzhou is not a Canadian citizen and has not been a permanent resident since 2009.

However, under the current COVID-19 travel restrictions, Immigration Canada can grant travel exemptions for the purpose of reunification with an immediate family member who is in Canada on a temporary basis.

While Meng’s family arrived in Canada for a visit, Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor marked two years in a Chinese prison in December.

Spavor last received consular access on Dec. 14 and Kovrig on Dec. 15. Both meetings were held virtually with Canadian Ambassador Dominic Barton. Neither of them was granted any consular access between January and November of last year, and since the pandemic what few meetings there have been are virtual.

Kovrig and Spavor were arrested in China in December 2018 and later charged with espionage. The Canadian government calls their detention arbitrary and many in the diplomatic community view it as retaliation for the arrest of Meng.

Meng is facing extradition to the United States on fraud charges – which she and Huawei deny – and remains under house arrest in Vancouver.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s David Molko