There was another similar case at McMaster University.
McMaster Muslims For Peace and Justice and McMaster Muslim Students' Association invited Canadian-Uyghur Rukiye Turdush to deliver a speech at the university in February, describing her as a "Uyghur survivor" in the poster released on McMaster Muslims For Peace and Justice's Facebook account.
According to Canadian media reports, Turdush studied history at East China Normal University in Shanghai and emigrated to Canada in 1998. She is a former president of the Uyghur Canadian Society.
Li Qi, a Chinese student studying at McMaster, told the Global Times that once they heard about the news on the speech, Chinese students made a WeChat group to plan a protest.
Many Chinese students were concerned about the speech and expressed opposition to Xinjiang separatists on their social media accounts, Li said, noting that some students posted that "No one is allowed to do something to undermine our nation or damage the nation's dignity."
Some students expressed their disappointment and concerns to the university, some handed out leaflets in the campus to express their attitude, and five organizations released a joint announcement to condemn the activity, according to Li.
Chinese students reached by the Global Times at UTSC and McMaster University expressed their dislike of Xinjiang separatists and pro-Tibet independence groups.
However Zhi said that "there was no need to organize something" at UTSC since as soon as Lhamo was unveiled as having a pro-independence stance, calls for her impeachment spread widely among Chinese students.
John said that Chinese students would voluntarily organize protests if there were any incidents involving Tibet independence.
"We become more patriotic after coming abroad. Foreign countries are not better than China and they have more problems," John said.
Biased 'freedom of speech'
In response to why there have been so many incidents involving Xinjiang separatists and Tibetan independence groups in Canadian universities, a Chinese postgraduate student who has studied in Canada for many years and asked for anonymity, said that "freedom of speech" and "freedom of association" have always been used by different forces for their own purpose in many campuses.
Student associations with different political affiliations can be registered on campus. Take the University of Toronto for example, there are Tibet independence groups on all three campuses, he said.
"The university may not support these groups' positions or activities, but they will not stop them," he said.
John said that the public opinion environment in Canada may also add fuel to these groups' activities.
Activities organized by the Tibet independence and Xinjiang separatist groups usually pander to some Western countries' biased opinions and prejudice toward China. Local media would also be partial to these groups, John said.
He noted that a media outlet in Canada had contacted him after he called for Lhamo's impeachment. "The questions they asked are not objective and showed that partiality. And I chose to not answer them. The public opinion environment would also have influence on universities," he said.
Zhi said that Western countries do not have an objective attitude toward China and their media likes to hype up so-called "human rights problems." Universities sometimes pacify Chinese students by "making some simple statements without any practical moves."
"My feeling is that they prefer to let these separatist forces to speak out," Zhi said.
Despite the frequent incidents, Chinese students in Canada said that activities from these groups are small in scale.
Their activities are held irregularly and have little influence in the campus since "who would care about them?" John said.
Zhi said that during his five years studying at UTSC, he had seen few pro-Tibet independence activities. But he worries the controversy surrounding Lhamo's election may strengthen their momentum.
"But I still don't think it would change anything since the so-called president of the students union could never impose her views on others, nor did she use the position to promote her Tibet independence views," he said.
Li said that the influence of Xinjiang separatist groups is little felt. The number of students attending Turdush's speech was around 60, which included some who were there to protest.
