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RCMP sent ‘disruption’ to Chinese police stations in Canada, Lucki tells MPs

Three stations in Toronto and one in Vancouver have been identified, Lucki said during her Monday appearance at the special committee for Canada-China relations

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki testifies before the House of Commons Public Safety Committee on October 31, 2022.
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki testifies before the House of Commons Public Safety Committee on October 31, 2022. Photo by parlvu.parl.gc.ca

OTTAWA — The RCMP sent in officers to show a “visible presence” to Chinese police stations operating in Canada, commissioner Brenda Lucki told a House of Commons committee.

“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,” she said.

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Lucki said during her Monday evening appearance at the special committee for Canada-China relations that four stations have been identified, three in the Toronto area and one in Vancouver. The RCMP first said it was investigating last October, following reports that China was operating “police” stations in Canada and other countries. Human rights group Safeguard Defenders said in December China was operating more than 100 such stations around the world.

Lucki said the RCMP is investigating the four Canadian stations, but because that investigation is ongoing, declined to get into specifics.

The stations are in locations where there is a legitimate business in the front, she said. “In some of these cases, it could be as simple as a room behind a commercial retail store.”

She indicated to MPs the strategy was successful. “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 we have done,” she said.

Lucki also said one of the reasons for that action was to encourage people to come forward. “We’ve had that visible presence, and that’s mostly so that people will see the actions first of all, because we need more information. So what we hoped, and it did occur, when we do this a lot of people come forward to provide information because they see the police in the area.”

She couldn’t give a timeline about when the RCMP investigation into the police stations will conclude. “Normally, they’re very lengthy investigations,” Lucki said.

Lucki noted the RCMP is working with local police, Five Eyes allies and other law enforcement agencies around the world.

Conservative MP Raquel Dancho asked Lucki whether anyone had been arrested, deported, or had their diplomatic credentials revoked.

“If any of that had happened then I could speak more to it, if there was any charges laid, but that is not the case,” Lucki said. Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, who was also testifying, said “if there are any actions which are taken, then the government will share that information when we can.”

“Nothing has been shared. Therefore we can conclude no-one has been arrested or credentials removed,” Dancho responded.

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