Qing Quentin Huang was arrested Dec 1., 2013 on allegations he betrayed the country he once praised by attempting to pass along naval secrets to China.
The Ontario man accused of attempting to pass secrets to China made a brief court appearance in downtown Toronto Wednesday morning.
Dressed in a black jacket and dark shirt with heavy bags under his eyes, Qing "Quentin" Huang nodded and said "yes" when asked if he spoke English. He briefly spoke with the Crown and his own lawyers during his appearance at Old City Hall.
He returned again later after a brief adjournment, only to have his case adjourned until Monday.
"Given the fact it's a reverse-onus case, we require more time to prepare for the bail hearing," Mr. Huang's lawyer John Lee said afterward.
In Mr. Huang's case, the onus has been shifted to his lawyers to prove that he should be granted bail.
RCMP accuse Mr. Huang, a 53-year-old marine engineer, of attempting to pass classified information to China.
Mr. Huang was arrested in Burlington Saturday, charged with two counts of violating the Security of Information Act.
Since 2006, Mr. Huang has worked as a structural design appraisal engineer in Lloyd's Register Canada Ltd.'s technical support office.
The firm is a subcontractor to Irving Shipbuilding on a federal program to build specialized Canadian Forces ships. However, company officials say Mr. Huang did not have direct access to any sensitive files.
Under Canadian law, it is a crime to "communicate to a foreign entity" sensitive government documents. Such communication is considered criminal even if the individual doesn't have such documents to hand over.
Ann Hui