Vancouver actor says she was conned into protesting Meng extradition

VANCOUVER — Something seemed off to Julia Hackstaff when an actor playing a reporter started asking her pointed questions about the protest sign she was holding.

Hackstaff had been hired as an extra for what seemed to be a poorly-organized production Monday and she hadn’t been briefed on her lines for the scene.

She had only just been handed the sign outside Vancouver’s courthouse, where she didn’t realize Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou’s extradition hearing was underway.

“The way this reporter was asking stuff, it kind of dawned on me, OK this person is obviously not acting,” Hackstaff said.

The 32-year-old actor said she now realizes she was scammed into participating in a protest in favour of Meng.

“The thought of it being a real protest only came at the end, when I decided to leave. Beforehand I was just trying to understand what kind of production this was, how come we weren’t given information,” she said.

“I thought, this is very poorly planned.”

It’s unclear who was behind the protest-for-hire and Hackstaff says she left right away without being paid.

No one from the consulate general of the People’s Republic of China in Vancouver could be reached for comment.

Benjamin Howes, a spokesman in Huawei’s international media affairs department, says in an email the company had no involvement with the protesters or supporters outside the courthouse.

The arrest of Meng in Vancouver in 2018 and the U.S. extradition request has severely strained Canada-China relations.

Protesters have periodically gathered outside the B.C. Supreme Court for hearings leading up to the start of Meng’s extradition hearing this week.

Some have spoken out against the Chinese government, while others have held signs calling for the Huawei executive’s released.

On Monday, Hackstaff was among half a dozen who carried red signs that read “Free Ms. Meng,” and “Equal Justice.”

She said it began with an offer on Facebook Sunday night from an acquaintance who said Hackstaff would be paid $100 for a two-hour gig. Hackstaff said she believes the man, whom she declined to name, was also duped into taking part.

It’s common for these offers to come in at the last minute so it didn’t seem unusual, Hackstaff said.

She was given an address, then redirected to a hotel lobby and when she finally arrived at the courthouse, she saw dozens of people already gathered and thought she must be late.

It’s not unusual for independent television and film productions to involve only one or two cameras, so she didn’t question yet whether the production was real.

She identified a group of confused looking 20-somethings as her fellow extras, one of them confirmed, and she was handed a sign.

“I was barely beginning to read the signs and trying to understand the material and a reporter approached me,” she said. “It was very surreal at that moment.”

She doesn’t know who was behind the job offer.

“I wish I’d said no,” she said.

“I can’t speak for all the people at the protest, I don’t know any of them. But it is unfair that someone who thinks they’re going to do an honest job got tricked into a scam.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 22, 2020.

Amy Smart, The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said her acquaintance was a woman.