Clearly, Schellenberg was never going to get a fair trial and was always going to be used by the CCP as leverage over Ottawa in a political dispute, as has been the case with Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.

A campaign to send Christmas cards in support of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor was launched by a group of experts, as the second anniversary of the detention of the two Canadians by Chinese authorities approaches.

That means the conversations will likely include the plight of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, two Canadians who have spent the last two years in custody in China.

Commentary China has sentenced Canadian businessman Michael Spavor to 11 years in prison on espionage charges, more than two years after the Canadian was first detained, along with fellow Canadian Michael Kovrig.

A Chinese court last month sentenced one of the Canadians, businessman Michael Spavor, to 11 years in prison. The other, diplomat, Michael Kovrig, sat through a closed-door trial in March, with the verdict moved to an unspecified date.

Canada should apply sanctions against the Chinese officials involved in the detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor and encourage other countries to make similar moves to curb Beijing's aggression, says author Jonathan Manthorpe.

Canada’s relationship with China has been under a microscope since it detained Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, two Canadian citizens, following the 2018 arrest of a Huawei Technologies executive for extradition to the United States on fraud charges

Let's not fall into the temptation of tough and irresponsible rhetoric that will generate no tangible result for Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, our farmers and entrepreneurs, and human rights victims and advocates.''

“This comes at a time when Canada depends on reporting for updates on illegally-detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, China’s crackdown on the 300,000 Canadians in Hong Kong, and the genocide of Uyghurs,” he added.

Soon after Meng’s arrest, China detained two Canadians citizens in 2018—Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor—which has been widely interpreted as an act of retaliation.

Kovrig and Michael Spavor, for over 600 days; since December 2018.”

Most Canadians are familiar with the nightmares endured by Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, the two Michaels imprisoned for almost three years because they were unlucky enough to be in China when Canada arrested Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver.

Kovrig and Michael Spavor.

This was amid heightened awareness of the CCP’s human rights abuses, including at the time the arbitrary incarceration of Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.

He praised Barton as an astute “defender of human rights and law” who “worked tirelessly” to facilitate the return of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, who were held captive by the Chinese government for over two years in retaliation for the arrest of

Shortly after Meng’s arrest, the Chinese regime arbitrarily detained two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, on charges of alleged espionage, a move widely seen as a retaliation against Canada.

With the release of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor held hostage by communist China, an expert panel says Canada must now look at widening its strategic partnerships, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region, to deal with what it calls Beijing

“And secondly, I am proud to have contributed something that has been confirmed, that I contributed to helping releasing Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.”

"Unfortunately, two innocent Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, will bear the brunt of that anger. It is likely that the detentions will be extended until China has some clarity as to Ms. Meng’s eventual fate.

Trudeau said Beijing's more aggressive behaviour can be observed in the “arbitrary detention” of Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, its “significant hardened posture” when questioned about its human rights record, and the crackdown in

China’s troubling human-rights record, the oppression of the Uyghur minority and the continued detention of two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, are deeply concerning for us,” the statement said.

Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor were rounded up by Chinese authorities nine days after the RCMP arrested the Chinese high-tech scion at the Vancouver airport in December 2018 on a U.S. extradition warrant

Notably, Canadians want to see their government secure the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, the “two Michaels,” from China, whether with a stick or a carrot.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan recently called China's detention of Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor “hostage diplomacy.”

Who needs a reminder that they include Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, held in terrible conditions? How can anyone at the CPP even go and look at investments in China without wondering whether he or she will be next?

He then listed several of Beijing's rights transgressions, including its abuse of Uyghurs, its violation of the Hong Kong international treaty, its continued persecution of the Tibetan people, its arbitrary imprisonment of Canadians Michael Kovrig and

Jacques said that prior to the Meng Wanzhou affair, which led to the Chinese regime’s arbitrary detention of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in 2018, some individuals within the government didn't want to recognize the regime as “an aggressive

A number of Canada's explicit priorities, including access to COVID-19 vaccines, freeing Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig from China or securing an exemption to Buy American, are conspicuously absent.

The move clearly angered Beijing, and two Canadians working in China-Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor-were arrested soon after on accusations of endangering national security, a move widely seen as retaliation against Ottawa.

Feelings of mass elation swept Canada last week as Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were finally released after having spent over 1,000 days in captivity in China, right after Meng Wanzhou was released due to a deal struck with Washington to drop charges