The federal government should cancel its contract with a visa application company that has links to Beijing to prevent the personal data of Hong Kongers trying to flee the city from falling into the hands of the communist regime, a parliamentary committee heard on Feb. 17. Hong Kong activists and experts testified before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration about their concerns over Ottawa contracting out its visa applications processing to VFS Global, a company known to have close ties with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). One of its subcontractors in China serves as the municipal government’s public security bureau and police department in Beijing. “This is a worrying situation and the Canadian government should take prompt measures to ensure that people who are facing political suppression, their information will not fall into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party and result in secondary harms to them,” said activist …