RCMP Sent Officers to Alleged Chinese Police Stations to Show ‘Visible Presence’: Commissioner Lucki

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki waits to appear before the Special Committee on Canada-People's Republic of China Relationship on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 6, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby)

The RCMP has sent officers in uniform and marked police cars to have a “visible presence” at locations where alleged secret Chinese police stations are operating in Toronto and Vancouver, says RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki.

Lucki told MPs on the House committee on Canada-China relations that the RCMP had sent the police presence to “cause disruption to the allegations” that the locations have been serving as unofficial Chinese police service stations.

“We’ve had that visible presence and that’s mostly so that people will see the [RCMP’s] actions, first of all, because we need more information,” she said on Feb. 6.

Lucki indicated that the strategy has been successful, saying that “a lot of people come forward to provide information because they see the police in the area dealing with the allegations.”

“We haven’t heard very many new complaints on those three stations in Toronto and the one in Vancouver as a result of the disruption that we have done with those particular locations,” she said.

Lucki also confirmed the RCMP are currently investigating three of the alleged police stations in Toronto and one in Vancouver.

A senior RCMP officer told MPs at the committee meeting that the Chinese police stations in Canada and around the world are “concerning” due to the potential for forced repatriation of individuals to China, as well as the intimidation of Chinese nationals’ family members at home and abroad.

“These alleged police stations may contribute to the involuntary return of individuals to China. Also, families living in both China and Canada may become the target of harassment, intimidation, or experience other negative consequences,” said Brigitte Gauvin, RCMP acting director for federal policing and national security.

Lucki told the committee that so far no one has been arrested or deported in relation to the Chinese police stations.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed at the committee meeting that no diplomatic credentials have been revoked in response to the issue.

Unofficial Chinese Police Stations

The RCMP said in a statement last November that it is seeking witnesses with knowledge of “possible foreign actor interference” at undeclared Chinese police service stations in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

News of the Chinese police outposts first emerged in September 2022 following a report published by the Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders, which identified 54 police stations in dozens of countries around the world run by two provincial-level police bureaus in China, including the three stations in the GTA.

The specific addresses of those three stations in the GTA were mentioned in a local Chinese government news release: one is in a convenience store in Scarborough, one is at a residential home in Markham, and the third is a property that is also the headquarters of the Canada Toronto FuQing Business Association (CTFQBA), a federally incorporated non-profit.

“We did a disruption by going in uniform with marked police cars, to speak with the people involved in those police stations, or those locations, because those locations are a legitimate business in the front,” Lucki said, adding that the Chinese outposts do not resemble standard police stations.

“It’s any place that is causing interference or intimidation, harassment to individuals in any form. ... In some of these cases, it could be as simple as a room behind a commercial retail store,” she said.

In an updated report published in December 2022, Safeguard Defenders further identified two other provincial-level police bureaus in China that were also operating overseas service stations, bringing the total known Chinese police service stations to 102, with an overall presence in 53 countries.

This includes two more Chinese police stations identified in Vancouver, whose specific addresses weren’t provided.

On Dec. 10, 2022, the RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET), which is leading the investigation of the matter, reportedly paid a visit to a building in Vancouver that currently serves as the headquarters of the Wenzhou Friendship Society, a non-profit group in Richmond, B.C.

The police conducted interviews there and in the surrounding neighbourhood, but declined to disclose the nature of their investigation.

Hua Wei Su, director of Wenzhou Friendship Society, told Global News that the police were at the group’s “clubhouse,” but said he didn’t know why. He denied that the society’s building, which is situated at 4266 Hazelbridge Way, has any connection to the alleged Chinese police stations operating in Canada.

Stations Shut Down

Authorities in over a dozen countries have been investigating the Chinese police service stations allegedly operating in their territories, with some stations being shut down.

Bloc Québécois MP Denis Trudel questioned Lucki at the Feb. 6 committee on whether Canada could learn from other countries in shuttering the stations more efficiently.

“I saw in Ireland and the Netherlands that the so-called police stations have been shut down,” said Trudel.

“How did they go about doing that in those countries? Did they proceed by investigation like we’re undertaking in Canada? Did it take months? Did it take years? What process was undertaken in those countries?”

Lucki said in response that police investigations have to meet the threshold of Canada’s Criminal Code.

“We have to meet the threshold of the evidence in order to bring somebody to court [in] shutting them down,” she said.

An unofficial Chinese police station in Dublin removed its signage just days after the Irish government started questioning the local Chinese embassy about the station’s activities. Weeks later, the Irish government confirmed on Oct. 26, 2022, that the police station has been ordered to shut down.

The Netherlands has ordered the closure of two Chinese police stations in November 2022. The two stations were identified in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, according to Safeguard Defenders’ report in September.

More recently, the United States has shut down a Chinese police station in New York City.