Several Conservative MPs are speaking out over the cancellation of a Shen Yun Performing Arts show last weekend as a result of a fake bomb threat, saying the show is constantly targeted by the Chinese communist regime for its revival of traditional Chinese culture.
“I condemn the bomb threat that forced the evacuation and cancellation of this week’s Shen Yun performances at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto,” Conservative MP James Bezan said in a social media statement on April 1, referring to the incident on March 29.
“I am deeply concerned this incident reflects intimidation tactics often associated with Chinese Communist Party sympathizers targeting those whose beliefs or messages they oppose.”
Shen Yun, a New York-based classical Chinese dance and music company, was founded by leading Chinese artists who aim to revive China’s traditional culture that has been suppressed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The Falun Dafa Association of Toronto, the local organizer for Shen Yun in the Greater Toronto Area, says the show has been the target of over 150 fake bomb and death threats over the past two years, mostly via emails sent to venues in an attempt to disrupt the show. According to Shen Yun, its artists practice the spiritual meditation discipline Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, which has been subjected to a persecution campaign by the CCP since 1999.
Conservative MP Garnett Genuis rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 16, 2021. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang
Conservative MP Garnett Genuis said he was “shocked” to hear that a Shen Yun performance was cancelled over a bomb threat.
“This traditional Chinese cultural performance faces constant harassment because of their opposition to the CCP,” Genuis said in a statement on social media on March 31, posting a photo of his meeting with the local organizers the day before to discuss the issue.
“Canada must stand for free artistic expression. The shows must go on!”
Conservative MP Roman Baber, who was at the Four Seasons Centre on March 29 to attend the show that ended up being cancelled, said it was regrettable that audiences didn’t get a chance to enjoy Shen Yun.
“I’ve been very much looking forward to today’s show, and it’s regrettable that an apparent bomb threat has derailed the ability to showcase thousands of years of Chinese culture and dance, like it was before communism,” Baber said in an interview at the at the theatre.
“We know that the show is under a lot of Chinese government pressure. Specifically we know that they made attempts in Ottawa too and were successful at convincing the landlord in cancelling the venue.”
Last year, Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau traced a similar threat received by multiple venues hosting the show in the country to a facility in Xi’an, China.
A year prior to that, two Chinese agents in the United States received prison sentences for attempting to bribe an Internal Revenue Service agent to open an investigation into Shen Yun.
The U.S. State Department denounced the CCP’s continued targeting of Shen Yun last year, saying in a statement, “We condemn such acts of intimidation and urge protection of the right to free expression.”
Conservative MP Roman Baber holds a Shen Yun program book while standing with one of the show’s hosts outside the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto on March 29, 2026. The Epoch Times
While there have been many cases of fake bomb threats targeting Shen Yun, no acts of violence have materialized. In one of the more recent instances in Canada, Shen Yun’s show at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga on March 15 was delayed by 1 ½ hours due to a bomb threat. The Peel Regional Police said an investigation found that there was no credible threat.
A police investigation of the March 29 threat at the Four Seasons Centre came to a similar conclusion, saying the threat was unfounded.
MP Bezan says the incident resulting in the cancellation of the show is an affront to the freedom of expression.
“This is an attack on fundamental freedoms, freedom of expression and freedom of conscience, which must be protected,” he said. “I stand with the performers and everyone affected.”
Freedom
Conservative MP Rhonda Kirkland, who saw Shen Yun in Toronto on March 28, said that a “just society” is one that “safeguards” faith.
“Freedom is never an accident of history. It is the right of every person to live according to their conscience, to believe, to worship, and to practice their faith openly without fear,” Kirkland said in a social media statement on March 31, posting photos of her talk at a ceremony to celebrate Shen Yun at the Four Seasons Centre on March 28.
“This is not a privilege to be granted by governments, but a fundamental human right, rooted in dignity itself. A just society does not merely tolerate faith — it safeguards it, ensuring that no one must hide what they hold sacred or live in fear for expressing it.”
