Horrific murder prompts China to issue warning about Canada
China has issued a warning about Canada following the murder and dismemberment of Lin Jun, a Chinese student who was attending Concordia University in Montreal.
“The Chinese Embassy in Canada reminds Chinese citizens travelling to Canada, as well as students and the staff of Chinese organizations in Canada, to improve their self-protection [and] awareness, and to strengthen their personal security,” the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa said in a statement, as reported by the Globe and Mail.The warning, written in Chinese only, has encouraged a debate in China about whether Canada is a safe place for students and tourists, the newspaper says.
It is the second murder of a Chinese student in 12 months, the article says, noting the slaying in April 2011 of York University students Liu Qian.
Leaving aside the horror of the crimes allegedly committed by Luka Rocco Magnotta, this warning about Canada will undoubtedly create worries for K-12 and post-secondary schools that are trying to attract Chinese students to their international students program.
James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, suggested China has reached the wrong conclusion about Canada. “I think it’s a bit of an over-reaction,” he told Bill Good during an interview on CKNW. But he had other concerns about Canada’s efforts to attract more fee-paying international students. “Canada is one of the richer countries in the world,” he said. “There is something fundamentally wrong with trying to strip less-developed countries of their best and brightest.
“We’re encouraging a kind of brain drain that doesn’t help other countries.”
This is the second time in recent years that China has issued a warning affecting Canada. The last time was after a Vancouver Sun investigation in 2006 found that Kingston College in Vancouver was scamming international students. The college was eventually ordered closed, as was its sister institution Lansbridge University.
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