Detention of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig

[5] Spavor had been a consultant and the director of Paektu Cultural Exchange, an organization that promotes investment and tourism in North Korea.

[7] In 2023, Spavor accused Kovrig of using him for espionage without his knowledge, resulting in him unwittingly passing on information relating to North Korea to Canadian intelligence agencies.

[9][10][11] Michael Kovrig (born February 3, 1972)[12] is a Canadian former diplomat and geopolitical analyst and advisor working for the International Crisis Group, a transnational, independent, non-governmental organization focused on preventing and resolving deadly conflict through research and advocacy.

[19][20] He also worked for the United Nations Development Programme in New York City as a strategic communications specialist, and as a researcher for the firm that later became Rhodium Group.

[21] After being detained in December 2018, he was accused of "Spying on State Secrets or Intelligence for Parties Outside the Territory of China" by the Chinese government in May 2019.

[27] Kovrig, Crisis Group and the Canadian government all insisted that he was innocent of all charges[28] and US President Joe Biden declared that he and Spavor were being used as "bartering chips".

Meng was the chief financial officer of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei, founded by her father Ren Zhengfei.

Because the case involved Chinese national security law, the chargé d'affaires at the Canadian Embassy in China was denied entry to provide consular assistance.

[51] On April 23, 2020, the 500th day of Kovrig's detention, Trudeau said consular visits for the detained Canadians were being blocked on account of the coronavirus lockdown.

[58][59] Kovrig and Spavor arrived at Calgary International Airport the next morning, where they were greeted by Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau.

[60] At a press conference held on September 27, China Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hua Chunying maintained that the cases of Meng and the two Michaels were separate, stating that the two had "applied for release on bail for medical reasons".

[61] A 2023 Global News investigation claimed that then-Liberal MP Han Dong privately advised a senior Chinese diplomat to hold off freeing Kovrig and Spavor in 2021.

[63] According to a report by The Globe and Mail in November 2023, Spavor sought a multimillion-dollar settlement against the federal government for involving him in espionage activities without his knowledge.

"[19] A watchdog report criticized the GSRP operating in a "distinctly grey zone", putting its officers and their contacts at risk and might breach global diplomatic conventions.