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The pattern of harassment against Shen Yun Performing Arts continues. Only weeks after hoax bomb threats shut down several Toronto shows in late March, the same campaign hit British Columbia in early April.

On April 2, 2026, just days before its scheduled run at Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre, the venue received a detailed bomb threat. The anonymous sender claimed to have planted a large amount of ammonium nitrate with a remote detonator and demanded the entire performance series be cancelled. Vancouver Police quickly responded.

Their Cyber Crime Unit investigated, cleared the theatre, and declared the threat a hoax. Investigators even traced the email to a phone number in China. All five shows from April 8 to 12 went ahead without incident and drew strong audiences.

While the April threat received limited initial attention, the full picture emerged on May 4 when Global News reported that Chinese Consulate officials had met with a City of Vancouver Civic Theatres staff member and directly pressed the city to cancel Shen Yun’s performances.

The City confirmed the meeting occurred and that the topic was discussed. The Falun Dafa Association of Canada described the diplomatic effort as blatant foreign interference aimed at silencing critics on Canadian soil. Joel Chipkar, a spokesperson for the group, noted that Shen Yun has faced more than 150 similar hoax bomb threats at venues around the world over the past two years — all designed to create fear and disruption.

Chinese consulate met Vancouver official in bid to stop event critical of communist rulehttps://t.co/ugRAv2gGo8

— Globalnews.ca (@globalnews) May 4, 2026

This latest threat shares a direct connection to the earlier incident in Toronto. The message originated from the same Gmail account, [email protected], used in the March 29 threat that led to the cancellation of six Shen Yun performances at the Four Seasons Centre.

In Toronto, police evacuated and searched the building, confirming it was safe. However, the Canadian Opera Company cancelled the rest of the run “out of an abundance of caution,” disappointing thousands of ticket holders.

JUST IN: CCP linked email account "[email protected]" that let to 6 @ShenYun shows cancelled in Toronto last month had sent +28 malicious emails across 6 countries on 3 continents over the cross of 114 days (January 1 to April 24, 2026), targeting Falun Gong…

— Doris Liu 秋旻 (@OceanDorisLiu) May 8, 2026

That single account carried out a 114-day harassment campaign between January and April 2026. It sent at least 28 threatening emails targeting Shen Yun, Falun Gong practitioners, and even government sites in multiple countries. After the Toronto success, the sender openly bragged in follow-up messages, calling it their “most successful” operation and mocking law enforcement as “my dogs.”

Global Affairs Canada reached out to the RCMP and Public Safety Canada following the threats. Parliamentary Secretary Rob Oliphant declared that Canada will not tolerate foreign interference or transnational repression. Conservative MPs have gone further, calling for the expulsion of involved Chinese consulate officials and filing a petition urging stronger action against the persecution of Falun Gong.

Shen Yun’s Vancouver shows successfully went forward despite the pressure. The company’s Toronto dates have now been rescheduled for late June. Yet the broader pattern remains troubling: repeated hoaxes, direct diplomatic meddling, and venues sometimes folding under the pressure. This raises serious questions about how Canada protects cultural events and free expression on its own territory. How many more incidents will it take before Ottawa treats these acts of foreign interference with the seriousness they deserve?