RCMP Shut Down Operations at Alleged Chinese Police Stations, House Committee Hears

Acting RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme (R) arrives with Assistant Commissioner Mark Flynn at the Procedure and House Affairs committee in Ottawa on June 13, 2023. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

Senior RCMP officials told a House of Commons committee on June 13 that the force has shut down the operations of several locations across Canada that were reported to be secret Chinese police stations.

“Based on the work that’s done, the overt action that the RCMP has taken on the multiple sites, we are comfortable based on the criminal intelligence that we have that the activities in the specific areas have shut down,” Acting Commissioner Michael Duheme testified at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC) on June 13.

Duheme stood by his statements when Conservative MP Michael Cooper questioned their seeming contradiction to the testimony from Jody Thomas, national security and intelligence adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. On June 1, Thomas testified at the PROC that the government is aware of activities at two alleged Chinese police stations in Quebec and that “work is being done to ensure that they cease to operate.”

“I’m comfortable to say at this point in time that [the Chinese police stations] are shut down. Investigations are continuing in these overseas police stations,” Duheme said.

The two locations suspected of doubling as police stations that Thomas referred to are the Service à la famille chinoise du Grand Montréal (SFCGM) and Centre Sino-Québec de la Rive-Sud (CSQRS), which are respectively located in Montreal and in Brossard, Quebec. The two organizations, both operated by Brossard City Councillor Xixi Li, have been in function for decades, providing community services to local Chinese immigrants, such as language training programs. RCMP first announced investigations into these two locations in March, saying at the time that they had received at least 15 serious tips about the presumed Chinese police stations.

The Sino-Quebec Center in Brossard, Quebec, is seen on March 9, 2023. RCMP says it's investigating this organization, along with the Chinese Family Service of Greater Montreal, which are allegedly clandestine overseas Chinese police service stations. Noé Chartier/The Epoch Times

Reports about the two locations in Quebec were the latest in a series of revelations about overseas police outposts operated by at least four local-level police bureaus in China. The public was first made aware of these Chinese police stations by the Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders in reports published last year. The NGO, initially studying the Chinese Communist Party’s long-arm policing, said some of these overseas police stations were involved in the coercion, harassment, and forced repatriation of Chinese nationals living abroad.

RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn, who also testified at the PROC on June 13, confirmed that seven, and possibly eight, police stations were operating in Canada. According to Safeguard Defenders’ reports, there are three locations in Toronto and two in Metro Vancouver suspected of being Chinese police stations. The Epoch Times also reported on Feb. 13 that another location in Richmond, B.C., was listed as an overseas police service centre by a local police bureau in China.

‘Greatest Threat for Democracy’

Duheme said he recently attended a law enforcement meeting in Australia with nations in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, and that foreign interference was a key topic of their discussion.

“China represents the greatest threat for democracy in our country,” Duheme told the committee.

In response to a question from Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull, Duheme said having strong relationships with communities and encouraging the residents to report such activities is key to preventing these secret foreign police stations from re-emerging in Canada in the future.

Flynn echoed this, saying that many people have come forward to report their experiences in relation to the Chinese police stations after RCMP officers in uniform conducted open investigations at the locations.

“We have many individuals that have come forward to us,” he said. “Part of our plan behind that public visibility in uniforms, in police cars, particularly in provinces where the RCMP is not seen in uniform, was to help build some of that trust and confidence with the community, so that they would feel comfortable coming forward.”

Noé Chartier contributed to this report.