The Bureau retracts Majcher’s story after investigation

The Office retracted a story about William Majcher published in September 2024 after it became clear that I had been the target of a refined and ongoing undercover operation since March 2024. This operation appears to have been aimed at identifying my confidential sources regarding PRC reports and providing manipulated information designed to spread disinformation The Office reporting on Majcher’s ongoing foreign interference case.

In retrospect, I think these actions reflect those of well-motivated, motivated actors with a clear agenda.

Therefore, I immediately shared evidence of suspected infiltration by these sophisticated operations with appropriate law enforcement and government agencies. As the founder of The Office, I consider this incident a formal complaint regarding the targeting of Canadian journalists for possible foreign interference.

I am currently consulting with lawyers and media protection experts and will make further comments as the investigation progresses.

As a founder, I must emphasize that this incident appears to be a continuation of a pattern of serious and persistent threats against my reporters that first came to light in 2020, after I published an in-depth story on the activities of the Chinese United Front Work Department in Canada.

In the months that followed, I heard from CSIS and other experts that United Front Groups in Vancouver, later involved in the RCMP investigation into “Chinese police stations,” held a press conference aimed at discrediting my work and reputation.

A colleague shared photos showing a notorious PRC-linked organized crime suspect I had previously reported on parked outside this press conference. It was also brought to my attention that an individual with ties to the Chinese consulate in Vancouver, suspected of organized crime and Chinese state actors who were the target of RCMP and CSIS investigations, had allegedly made a threat against me outside this event.

All this followed a related attempt by the United Front to community funded filed a lawsuit against my reporting.

As I explained in my book Willful blindness (published May 2021), my reporting and reputation have been under sustained, organized attack by individuals confirmed to be involved in PRC threat networks in Canada. This includes groups linked to the Department of Work of the United Front, the CCP’s foreign interference department involved in investigations into political influence and interference by both the FBI in the United States and CSIS in Canada.

Other troubling incidents include an official threat briefing I received from CSIS after the publication of my book. During this meeting, a CSIS official warned me that PRC actors in Canada are dangerous. They told me that CSIS investigations had determined that CCP agents was taxed of to research my professional networks and background, identifying my reporting sources, and determining whether I had ties to groups Beijing classifies as the “Five Poisons.” It also assessed whether my reporting posed a threat to the Chinese Communist Party.

In June 2023, shortly after I was called to testify in Parliament about my knowledge of threats against Canadian politicians by the People’s Republic of China (https://www.thebureau.news/p/opening-statement-for-testimony-on), two officers from the RCMP national security unit visited my home. They told me that they had obtained a court order, known as a legal “duty to warn,” informing me of a credible threat to my safety regarding my reporting on PRC affairs.

The threat networks involved are believed to be linked to foreign actors engaged in transnational repressive activities, and using Canadian representatives.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support in the launch of The Office, a new research platform that examines issues such as transnational repression and the growing threat it poses to citizens and citizens in democratic countries.

For more on the threat, see this FBI statement.