Canada's 'Lifeboat' Sham: Ottawa is Quietly Telling Hong Kong Migrants to Go Home

In her new book, Regina Ip , Convenor of Hong Kong’s Executive Council, brilliantly called out the British government's BNO scheme five years ago all talk, no substance, pure hypocrisy. Well, guess what? The Canadian government is playing exactly the same game.

They put on quite the show back in the day, didn't they? All that fanfare about launching a "lifeboat" for Hong Kong people, complete with righteous speeches about standing up for democracy and human rights. Fast forward to today, and they're processing permanent residency applications at a snail's pace, clearly hoping most applicants will just give up and leave. The hypocrisy is staggering, honestly.

But here's the kicker – Canadian authorities have now told Hong Kong people waiting in the queue that they can simply return to Hong Kong while waiting for their applications to be processed. You don't need to stick around Canada, they're saying. Just head home and we'll let you know when we're ready for you. How generous of them, right?

Canada deliberately slows down residency applications while frustrated Hong Kong applicants protest. Ottawa's latest move? Telling them to go home and wait there instead.

The Great Canadian U-Turn

In 2021, Canada launched this so-called "lifeboat" scheme riding high on anti-China sentiment following the implementation of the National Security Law. Politicians were falling over themselves to sound tough and principled. The rhetoric was impressive – they were going to be Hong Kong's savior.

But reality has a funny way of biting back. Two years later, Canada's immigration numbers exploded by a million people, and suddenly the government realized they'd completely miscalculated. Panic mode set in. Last October, they slammed the brakes hard, slashing the number of permanent residents for 2025 from 500,000 to 395,000, with further cuts planned for future years.

Playing the Numbers Game

The result? A massive backlog of Hong Kong applicants stuck in limbo. As of April this year, 34,000 Hong Kong people had applied for permanent residency, but only about 11,000 got approved. That leaves over 20,000 people hanging in the balance, and the wait times just keep getting longer.

Despite applications piling up like mountains, Ottawa clearly has no intention of speeding things up. Instead, they've come up with this rather peculiar solution – telling Hong Kong applicants they can return home and wait there instead. Essentially, don't bother staying in Canada working; just go back to Hong Kong, earn some proper money, and we'll call you when we're ready.

A Clever Psychological Trick

Immigration policy watchers I know reckon this move serves two purposes, both rather cynical when you think about it. First, it reduces job competition. Canada's economy has taken a beating recently, and job opportunities are getting scarce. If you can convince a bunch of Hong Kong people to temporarily disappear, that's less competition for locals. Canada currently has 2.8 million temporary residents – that's over 7% of the entire population. The government wants to cut this to 5%, so the fewer Hong Kong people hanging around, the better for their numbers.

Second – and this is where it gets really clever – they're playing mind games. The thinking goes like this: if Hong Kong people return home and readjust to life there, many might just change their minds about Canada altogether. Problem solved – fewer permanent residents to process, and the government can quietly reduce their immigration commitments without looking like the bad guys.

Stuck Between Two Shores

Many Hong Kong people are likely to take this option because, frankly, making ends meet in Canada right now isn't exactly easy. If you've got decent qualifications, finding work back in Hong Kong probably makes more financial sense. Some have become so frustrated with the endless waiting and Canada's cold shoulder that they might just call it quits permanently on the whole emigration dream.

But spare a thought for those who can't go back – particularly some of the more radical rioters who fled to Canada to avoid criminal charges. They're genuinely stuck. Most lack the skills to make a decent living if they return to Hong Kong, but they're terrified of facing legal consequences back home. They can only keep waiting desperately, necks stretched out, hoping against hope that Canada will eventually come through for them. Whether Canadian authorities will actually approve their applications remains anyone's guess.

Former black rioters who fled to Canada face an impossible choice – return to Hong Kong and risk legal consequences, or remain stranded in immigration limbo.

The whole situation perfectly illustrates the hollow nature of Western "humanitarian" gestures. When push comes to shove, domestic politics and economic concerns always trump the lofty rhetoric about standing up for democracy and human rights.

Ultimately, Canada's "lifeboat" hypocrisy matches Britain's pound for pound. If there are still Hong Kong people considering emigration to these countries out of dissatisfaction with Hong Kong, they'd be wise to think very carefully about what they're really signing up for.

Lai Ting-yiu

What Say You?

** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **

June 30, 2025 marks the fifth anniversary of Hong Kong's National Security Law coming into effect, and frankly, it's worth reflecting on just how bad things had gotten before Beijing stepped in. The streets are peaceful now, but let's not forget the absolute horror show that was unfolding during those dark months of 2019.

Among all the shocking scenes from that period, one incident stands out as particularly brutal and frankly, stomach-turning. A man – the media later dubbed  him Uncle Lee - tried to reason with black-clad protesters who were trashing Ma On Shan Station. For his trouble, he got doused with flammable liquid and set on fire like some medieval execution. Uncle Lee literally became a human torch, and somehow survived, though I'm not sure you'd call what followed "living."

When Setting People on Fire Becomes "Normal"

Here's the bit that'll really make your skin crawl - after this horrific attack happened, over 5,000 people on the LIHKG forum actually thought setting someone on fire wasn't "excessive." Only about 300 thought it crossed a line. Let that sink in for a moment. We're talking about thousands of people who basically gave a thumbs up to attempted murder by immolation.

"Five years after Hong Kong's National Security Law brought peace back to the streets, we're reminded of just how brutal things got - like when protesters literally set Uncle Lee on fire. What's truly shocking? Over 5,000 people online thought this wasn't even 'excessive.' That's how far gone things were."

This wasn't just random internet trolling either. These were likely the same people out on the streets, and if they genuinely believed burning someone alive was acceptable, how many more Uncle Lees would there have been? It's honestly chilling to think about.

The attack happened on November 11, 2019. Uncle Lee had simply had enough of watching protesters vandalize public property and decided to make a stand. During a heated argument on a pedestrian bridge, some masked coward splashed him with accelerant and lit him up before disappearing into the chaos. Classic hit-and-run tactics.

Five Years of Living Hell

What happened next was five years of absolute agony. Uncle Lee suffered burns across 40% of his body and needed multiple skin grafts. During treatment, he had a cardiac arrest and nearly died, then suffered a stroke on top of everything else. His left hand is basically useless now - wounds that wouldn't stop bleeding, constant itching that drives him mad, fingers that won't extend properly.

Half his teeth fell out from the trauma, and eventually he lost them all. The man can only eat soft food or liquids. Even now, with new dentures, eating is a struggle. His skin still feels tight, like ants constantly biting him. Elizabeth Quat, who's been helping him, describes someone living in constant torment.

The poor guy was offered corrective surgery on the mainland that might restore some hand function, but he's terrified of going under the knife again after the cardiac arrest and stroke during surgery. So he just endures it, day after day, while his attacker presumably lives it up somewhere in Taiwan, having fled Hong Kong shortly after the incident.

"Uncle Lee's nightmare didn't end with the attack - multiple surgeries, a stroke, and a near-fatal cardiac arrest later, he's still dealing with the aftermath. The man who did this to him? Still on the run, probably living it up somewhere while his victim suffers daily."

The Madness Had to Stop

Meanwhile, the perpetrator vanished into thin air - probably with help from those behind the scene - and remains on the run despite a HK$400,000 bounty. The police classified it as attempted murder.

This is where the pan-democrats and their overseas cheerleaders really showed their true colors. Jimmy Lai might have expressed "concerns" about the violence during his recent testimony, claiming he wanted some kind of leadership structure to control the "valiant faction." But let's be honest - he and others were perfectly happy to use these violent elements as shock troops against the government. They drew no meaningful red lines, made no serious efforts to rein in the lunatics, and basically gave tacit approval to increasingly barbaric behavior.

It took Beijing's intervention in June 2020 to finally put a stop to this madness. The National Security Law came down like a hammer, and suddenly the streets went quiet. Without that intervention, we'd likely have seen more Uncle Lees turned into human torches by radicals who'd completely lost their moral compass.

A Necessary Reality Check

Five years later, Hong Kong is peaceful again, but Uncle Lee continues to suffer every single day. His attacker roams free, probably living comfortably while his victim endures constant pain and disability. If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about the moral bankruptcy of that whole movement, I don't know what will.

The bottom line: Sometimes you need tough measures to stop society from sliding into complete barbarism. The National Security Law wasn't some authoritarian overreach - it was emergency surgery on a city that was hemorrhaging from self-inflicted wounds.

Lai Ting-yiu