Son of imprisoned Jimmy Lai pleads with Canada to put pressure on Hong Kong to show mercy

Publisher of the fiercely independent, pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper has been in prison for four years

Jimmy Lai could well have decamped to Canada as the Chinese Communist Party started strangling Hong Kong’s freedoms four years ago.

The publisher of the fiercely independent, pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper — effectively shut down by the government three years ago — owns hotels in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., and has a twin sister and other family members here, son Sebastien noted this week on a stopover in Toronto. Sebastien himself says he has fond memories of visiting Canada as a child. This is where he learned English and attended summer camp in Ontario cottage country.