Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino speaks about the government's firearms buyback program in the Foyer of the House of Commons, in Ottawa, Wednesday, April 26, 2023. Two Quebec community groups under investigation for allegedly hosting secret Chinese government police stations say they're operating normally, despite the public safety minister’s claims that all the clandestine police stations have been closed. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
MONTREAL – Two Montreal-area community groups under investigation for allegedly hosting secret Chinese government police stations say they are operating normally.
Their comments contradict claims made last week by federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, who told a parliamentary committee that the RCMP had closed all the alleged secret police stations in the country.
The RCMP say their investigation into the suspected police stations in Montreal and its South Shore suburb Brossard, Que., is ongoing.
But the two Chinese groups – Service à la Famille Chinoise du Grand Montréal and Centre Sino-Québec de la Rive-Sud – say they haven’t been asked to close by the federal police force.
The said Friday in a joint statement that they have co-operated with the investigation but that communication between them and the RCMP had ceased.
The alleged police stations are described as overseas outposts that harass people on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, but the Chinese government has denied those claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2023.
