Espionage trial: Hydro-Québec managers never sought explanation over 2022 publication

MONTREAL — A former researcher at Quebec’s electric utility research institute charged with economic espionage for the benefit of China was never confronted by senior managers at Hydro-Québec about concerns when publications came to light in 2022 triggering an internal probe.

“It wasn’t an obligation,” said Patrick Cyr, a manager who oversaw Yuesheng Wang at the time.

Wang, 38, has pleaded not guilty to economic espionage under Canada’s Security of Information Act — the first time someone has been charged with that crime. He also faces four other charges filed in 2022 and 2024 under the Criminal Code: fraudulently using a computer and breach of trust at the time of his November 2022 arrest, and charges laid in 2024 of committing preparatory acts on behalf of a foreign entity and informing that entity — the People’s Republic of China — of his intentions.

Under a tight cross-examination Friday from Wang’s lawyer Alexandra Boulanger, Cyr explained the initial finding was that internal rules of Hydro-Québec were being compromised when an academic paper was published in March 2022 with the utility’s knowledge.

“There were people internally who were doing the scientific work to validate: What were the publications? What were the things that had been published on the websites?,” Cyr testified.

The issue at the core of the Crown’s case is that Wang had published without going through the research institute’s intellectual property committee or with the knowledge of other Hydro-Québec officials. The committee must be informed of any proposed articles, conferences, or patents and sign off on them.

The federal Crown alleges Wang submitted applications to Chinese universities under the framework of the Thousand Talents program, a recruitment tool used by the Chinese government to attract foreign-trained scientists to return to work in China as part of its technology acquisition policy.

Wang allegedly committed to assisting Chinese entities in commercializing battery technologies related to confidential research domains at Hydro-Québec.

Cyr was the one who sent an email to corporate security seeking an internal analysis of Wang’s external scientific activities.

He testified that confidentiality applies to the majority of projects at Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage, known as CETEES, a research institute at Hydro-Québec located in Varennes, Que., that looks into advanced battery technologies and energy storage systems.

Cyr said research details in progress for an article or future patent are considered confidential, but information that has been made public through publications or patents is not.

The trial has heard that Wang never told anyone he was interested in switching jobs. Cyr noted that employees are allowed to hold another job, but they must declare it and it mustn’t be in the battery industry due to conflict of interest concerns.

Cyr testified that projects Hydro-Québec takes on with external partners are subject to non-disclosure agreements and that employees would be told the information should not be disclosed. He also noted during testimony that research information and documentation in handwritten lab notebooks, essential for validating findings, especially for patents, are property of Hydro-Québec. The information is in a secured vault and access is highly controlled.

The discovery of the first publication by Wang’s superiors triggered an internal probe and that resulted in Wang ultimately being fired from the research facility in November 2022. He was suspended without pay in August 2022 upon returning from a vacation the company had authorized when he went to China. His computer was seized and his access to internal systems was deactivated at the time.

During cross-examination, Cyr admitted that he had heard rules at the facility had become stricter with the departure of the founder of the institute, Karim Zaghib, who testified earlier this week and had retired from the centre.

Cyr told the court that Hydro-Québec had moved to block access to personal electronic messaging services from company computers as of March 2021, a policy change detailed to employees during that calendar year. Hydro-Québec also provides dedicated, non-cellular cameras for documenting scientific work, he said.

Crown witnesses at the trial have said that communications between the accused and employees were largely in English.

Wang, who speaks no French, had joined the Hydro institute in 2016. Much of the training and communications to employees at the provincially owned utility was in French, including mandatory code of ethics reviews yearly. Despite six years at the facility, Wang did not learn much French.

Quebec court Judge Jean-Philippe Marcoux also informed Wang’s lawyer Gary Martin that he would want Wang to testify in Mandarin should he take the stand — which could last up to three days — due to difficulty understanding Wang’s heavy accent in English.

Federal Crown prosecutor Sabrina Delli Fraine also told the court late Friday that it is considering calling witnesses not on its current list.

The trial will be on a one-week break next week before resuming Oct. 27. It is being heard at the Longueuil courthouse, south of Montreal.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2025.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press