Famed blind lawyer Joy Luk has fled Hong Kong and wants refugee status in Canada



From her apartment in Toronto, famed Hong Kong lawyer Joy Luk says she wants to apologize to her family — one she doesn’t think she’ll ever visit again in her beloved hometown.

Luk, who is blind, rose to notoriety fighting for people with disabilities and helping pro-democracy protesters on the front lines of demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2019 with instant legal counsel. Images of Luk, a bullhorn hanging off her shoulder, grabbed attention around the world during those protests.

But on Dec. 20, after about 10 minutes of questioning by authorities, the 44-year-old took a morning flight out of the city to South Korea and on to Toronto, where she says she intends to stay. Luk has applied for refugee status, pointing to harassment by authorities in Hong Kong over her political activism and fears for her safety there.

Her decision has been kept a secret until today.

“I would like to say sorry to my family members there. I will put them in trouble,” Luk told the Star, “because of my active participation in this campaign for freedom in Hong Kong.”

Luk’s grandfather swam to freedom from mainland China to Hong Kong with his family, including her father who was not yet 10 years old at the time, in the 1950s. Her grandfather told her the Chinese Communist Party is not trustworthy, and she holds the family’s story close with her belief that freedom and democracy are a core value for humanity.

Monday, the day she reveals her intent to stay in Canada, is the first anniversary of her father’s death.

Now, with many of her friends in jail or having been arrested — including Canadian singer Denise Ho — for their involvement in the pro-democracy movement, Luk said she comes to Canada under a shadow of sadness.

In Hong Kong, Luk fought for better accessibility for people with disabilities before unrest in the city grew into massive protests against laws that opponents charged would be used to silence critics of Beijing and breach the autonomy guaranteed to the region by the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which laid out the stipulations of Hong Kong’s handover to mainland China in 1997.

But she said she has no intention of settling into a quiet life and is vowing not only to continue her fight for Hong Kong’s civil rights, but also to expose the Chinese Communist Party’s influence campaigns in Canada.

“My mission here is not for my safety only,” Luk said. “I also want to do something letting people in Canada know more about why they will be at risk just like people in Hong Kong if they do not do anything in response to China’s strategy.”

Such influence operations have become a greater concern for Canadian authorities. Experts have been warning about activity by the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department in Canada for years.

The department is tasked with furthering the agenda of the CCP and seeks to network with people of influence in foreign countries. Meanwhile, observers and Canadian security agencies have also been concerned by the intimidation of activists in this country and potential interference in elections here by Beijing-linked organizations.

Last year, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, David Vigneault, warned China’s government was targeting activists in Canada with intimidation campaigns.

“It is very difficult to avoid China’s influence, especially when I listen to Chinese radio here,” Luk said.

Luk said she’s already arranged meetings with members of Parliament and will be a guest lecturer at Ryerson University to speak about equal opportunity for disabled people and social movements.

Her presence is a welcome addition to Toronto, said Winnie Ng of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China, which has been helping Luk since her arrival in Canada. The association calls Luk a “key figure” in the 2019 Hong Kong protests.

Ng said Luk’s background in Hong Kong can help Canadian officials navigate the new concerns the CCP represents for Canada.

“In a way, her presence is a boost for our morale,” Ng said. “Her expertise, her lived experience, we’re hoping, will help part of the advocacy team to speak to MPs, lawmakers and policy-makers.”

But Ng said her presence also underscores the need for Canada to make good on promises to help pro-democracy protesters come to Canada despite any convictions they may have related to protests.

“We should practise what we preach,” Ng said.

Her organization also wants the federal government to broaden the scope of political asylum.

In the meantime, as she awaits word of her refugee application, Luk said she’s getting used to the cold weather in Toronto and struggling to come to terms with the reality she will likely never return to Hong Kong.

“Without any change of the government or the leadership of China, I will have no chance to come back to Hong Kong. It is my homeland. I am very sad,” she said. “I just want to cry.”