As reports of Beijing’s interference on Canadian soil mount in recent months, a group of protesters concerned about such interference demonstrated outside a B.C. organization amid reports of China’s overseas police service stations. Protesters at the Feb. 25 rally were seen carrying signs, some reading “No CCP interference in Canada,” “expel Chinese spies,” and “No to China…

An online post by a local police bureau in China lists a shopping mall location in Richmond, B.C., as one of the bureau’s affiliated Chinese overseas police service centres. The phone number of the centre matches the contact number of the B.C.-based Canadian Association of Nantong Merchants Abroad. The post by the Nantong Public Security Bureau, which is…

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…

Amid requests by opposition MPs for a foreign agent registry in the face of increased espionage and influence activities by Beijing, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Canada should be “thoughtful and inclusive” when it comes to creating such a registry. “We need agencies to be inclusive, diverse, culturally sensitive,” Mendicino told the House of Commons Committee on…

Secret Chinese police stations allegedly operating in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and in dozens of other countries globally are raising concerns of the forced return of individuals to China, says an RCMP senior officer. “There is a collective concern on this topic, which has been expressed both domestically and internationally. This is not only because these…

Conservative MP and foreign affairs critic Michael Chong is calling for the expulsion of Chinese diplomats after a report said there are two more secret Chinese police stations in Canada. In a Twitter post on Dec. 13, Chong reiterated his call last week for Ottawa to expel the Chinese diplomats, citing a report from Spain-based…

Canada has made official complaints to the Chinese ambassador in regard to reports of unofficial Chinese police service stations operating in Canada, a senior official from the foreign affairs department told MPs. Weldon Epp, director general for Global Affairs Canada’s Asia Pacific Bureau, testified at the House Canada-China committee on Nov. 29, that his department…

The RCMP is enlisting witnesses in its investigation of reports of unofficial Chinese police stations operating in Ontario, as a number of countries around the world are probing similar interference activities from Beijing. “Foreign Actor Interference is illegal activity which targets Canadian interests, or interferes in Canadian society and threatens Canada’s national security. It includes attempts…

Canadian politicians and China experts have offered their observations on Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s confrontation with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the G-20 summit on Nov. 16, when Xi told Trudeau that he shouldn’t have “leaked” details of their conversation to the media the day before. “In exchanges like this, body language is extremely important,”…

The Netherlands demanded the closure of two illegal Chinese police “service stations” in the country. On Nov. 2, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wopke Hoekstra, posted on Twitter that the ministry has informed the Chinese ambassador that the stations must close immediately. Human rights NGO, Safeguard Defenders, revealed in its September report that China had set up…