Ottawa’s National Arts Centre cuts ties with controversial Chinese dance group
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The National Arts Centre in Ottawa will not be hosting a controversial Chinese performance group next year, following internal deliberations about potential blowback the Crown corporation could face over allegations regarding Shen Yun’s treatment of audience members with disabilities and a breach of previous contract terms, CBC News has learned.
Emails released in an access to information request show the NAC was considering the move for months — during which time the centre heard from at least two MPs wondering about whether there would be a Shen Yun show in 2026.
Based in New York, Shen Yun is closely affiliated with the Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa), a spiritual movement banned in China and long at odds with the country’s ruling communist regime.
In an email dated Jan. 13, Heather Gibson, the executive producer for the NAC’s popular music and variety programming, reached out to the centre’s CEO Christopher Deacon, as well as to Annabelle Cloutier, an executive director in strategy and communications, to “recommend that we do not continue our relationship with Shen Yun in 2026 in light of continued issues with their organization respecting our contractual agreement, primarily with the box office.”
She also alluded to “allegations that continue to surface about the organization,” without specifying details.
That note followed reporting last year by The New York Times which alleged Shen Yun forced its troupe of young dancers through emotional abuse and long work hours while discouraging them from seeking treatment for injuries. The New York Times investigation also alleges Shen Yun raked in hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decade, including through unethical and potentially unlawful methods.
The organization denied the allegations in the Times’s reporting, calling the financial-related accusations unfounded and saying the paper omitted positive accounts from performers.
In a reply to Gibson, Deacon said he saw Shen Yun’s future with the NAC as a “programming decision” to be made at her discretion.
Content retrieved from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/shen-yun-national-arts-centre-1.7593929.
