The RCMP says they’ve received more than a dozen tips about two alleged Chinese police stations in the Montreal area in less than a week.
Authorities suspect the Chinese government could be using the outposts to intimidate and influence Chinese Canadians.
The mayor of Brossard, on Montreal’s south shore, is used to managing things like snow removal, garbage pickup, libraries.
She never thought she’d have to navigate alleged Chinese government espionage.
“I was really surprised when I heard about the RCMP investigation and secret police,” said Brossard Mayor Doreen Assaad.
The Sino-Quebec Centre in Brossard is one of two community organizations in the area the RCMP believe is being used by China to intimidate Chinese-Canadians into furthering the communist government’s agenda in Canada. The other is the Chinese Family Service Centre in downtown Montreal.
“Since last Thursday, we received 15 tips from the general public regarding these alleged Chinese police stations in Montreal and Brossard,” said RCMP Sgt. Charles Poirier. “We’re quite happy with that result.”
No arrests have yet been made, and no search warrants have been issued. Both so-called “police stations” have the same director, Xixi Li. She spoke out against racism during the pandemic, and was elected as a Brossard city councillor in 2021 for an opposition party.
Xixi Li did not answer our interview request.
“It is quite likely that these organizations serve a dual purpose,” said Henri Paul Normandin, a former Canadian diplomat who spent several years in China.
Normandin says even as the organizations provide legitimate services to the community, they might also have a more sinister purpose of spreading Chinese propaganda.
“It may well be as well that most of the staff in these organizations is unaware, but that some people within these organizations are well aware of what’s going on,” he told Global News in an interview.
Assaad says since the RCMP went public about their investigation into the alleged outposts, she’s heard from people in Brossard who have been threatened by the Chinese government.
“It was certainly known in the community that those two centres were possibly operating as Chinese police stations,” said Poirier, inviting people to come forward and share their stories to help the investigation.
Assaad said she has a meeting with police later this week. She, Normandin and anti-racism advocate Winston Chan are warning people not to link Chinese Canadians to the alleged influence operations of the Chinese government.
“What’s happening in the community is totally different,” said Chan, who is with the National Coalition of Canadians Against Anti-Asian Racism. “When we don’t do the distinction, and we start with the pandemic, there has been a rise of anti-Asian incidents.”
He also worries the two organizations will lose funding for legitimate services like helping immigrants learn French.