The RCMP in Quebec launched a new community policing program on Wednesday to counter a surge in complaints by Chinese-Canadians in the Montreal area who say they are being harassed, threatened, and intimidated by hostile actors linked to the People’s Republic of China.
RCMP Sgt. Charles Poirier said in the past few weeks, the RCMP’s C Division in Quebec has received more than a half dozen complaints from Chinese Canadians fearful for their or their relatives’ safety after being threatened.
“Those people said they have been threatened, intimidated or harassed by representatives of the Chinese Communist Party here in Quebec. It’s obviously intolerable for us and we can’t just let it go,” said Sgt. Poirier, who briefed reporters about the new outreach effort.
“Real people are suffering from this,” Sgt. Poirier added, as the federal police in Quebec announced on X it was “actively investigating allegations of criminal activities related to Chinese foreign interference in Quebec” involving the “Chinese Communist Party.”
The federal police force’s first response to the growing reports of threats was a very visible show of force and presence, smack in the heart of Montreal’s historic Chinatown.
Platoons of RCMP members and other police officers, all in uniform, pulled up inside a large RCMP mobile command post on wheels.
The police teams fanned out to chat with residents, business owners and restaurants.
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Other teams did the same thing in a sister Chinese district located in suburban Brossard where Chinese Canadians have settled in large numbers, similar to Markham in the Greater Toronto Area.
The RCMP members were joined by Sureté du Québec provincial police officers and by detectives from the City of Montreal and the City of Longueuil (the two largest municipal forces in the province).
Their combined message was the same: People don’t have to put up with PRC hostile foreign actor harassment, threats and intimidation. The RCMP can help stop it. All you have to do is ask.
Officers distributed special business cards with phone numbers where people can report problems they have witnessed or experienced, to help police identify perpetrators.
The Quebec Mounties said their staff includes a Mandarin-speaking officer and they have Cantonese translators available on demand to help.
As part of the awareness and outreach program, the RCMP also published a brief video on YouTube Tuesday — in Chinese — to inform the community about its role in stopping foreign interference by threats and intimidation and about PRC-linked threats and intimidation.
The video indicated help is available and the RCMP speaks Chinese.
Not long after the video went live, the RCMP received four credible reports from Chinese Canadians calling in to report threats against themselves or report pressure being put on other members of the Montreal and Brossard Chinese communities, Sgt. Poirier said.
The detectives performing community outreach are not only a sign of an enhanced police presence, but they were specially prepared and tasked with explaining to the business owners, their staff and local residents the different shapes and forms of foreign actor interference, he added.
“It’s important to understand that we’re not trying to stigmatize anyone … but rather we’re attempting to spread the message, the awareness that should they have been victims or witnessed something, they can reach out to us confidentially.”
Harassment can take many forms, he explained, from a simple request to delate a social media post that makes the PRC or one of its leaders look bad. Or it can be more sinister, with implied threats that loved one in China could be hurt if certain things in Quebec or Canada are not done.
People can call the RCMP’s special line in Montreal at (514) 939-8301. Chinese government threats, harassment and intimidation efforts made in the rest of Canada can reported anonymously to National Security Information Network on their toll-free line at 1-800-420-5805.
Sgt. Poirier said the investigators will examine all cases closely and when they cannot lay criminal charges, they can still work in collaboration with other federal Canadian agencies to pursue additional measures to disrupt the person making threats, trying to intimidate people.
Those include revoking a person’s visa or work permit, or even a diplomatic expulsion by Global Affairs Canada.
Disruptive efforts can even go so far as the police urging the suspect’s employer to terminate them, if they’re involved in government-sponsored technology or business-secrets theft at the time.
He said the RCMP works closely with the Canada Border Services, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Fintrac (the federal government’s financial intelligence agency), and other police forces on disruption measures.
Sgt. Poirier said the RCMP continues to investigate two Chinese Quebec community groups that were identified as harbouring secret Chinese government police stations in Montreal and Brossard. No charges have been laid so far.
The two community groups filed civil lawsuits against the RCMP in Quebec Superior Court after denying the allegations. The RCMP has denied any wrongdoing in those cases.
