Liberals gave $200K to group being investigated for hosting Chinese police

Liberals gave $200K to group being investigated for hosting Chinese police 

May 20 2023

A Quebec charity being investigated for hosting an extra-judicial police station acting on behalf of Beijing received nearly $200,000 in federal funding since 2020. 

Service à la Famille Chinoise du Grand Montréal (SFCGM) is implicated in running the operation for China.

The RCMP has since launched an investigation into SFCGM to “detect and perturb criminal activities supported by a foreign state that can threaten the safety of people living in Canada.”

According to the National Post, Canada Revenue Agency reports filed by the group show that the federal government gave SFCGM $178,450 in 2020-2021 and another $21,728 in 2021-2022. 

Additionally, the group has received funding from Employment and Social Development Canada since 2018. 

The SFCGM has claimed that the RCMP was causing “potentially irreparable harm” to the group, which claims it is simply providing services to Chinese community members. 

In a statement, the SFCGM asked why the national police force “would publicly name two community centres serving the Chinese communities in Québec, causing serious and potentially irreparable harm to the community.”

This week, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino flip-flopped on the issue after claiming in the past that the RCMP had shut down all of the Chinese police stations operating in Canada.

“I am confident that the RCMP have taken concrete action to disrupt any foreign interference in relationship to those so-called police stations, and that if new police stations are popping up and so on, that they will continue to take decisive action going forward,” said Mendicino. 

“Our expectation is that if those activities manifest, if there is foreign interference, that yes, the RCMP will take decisive action as they have in the past.”

The human rights group Safeguard Defenders first reported that there were over 100 police stations in over 50 countries trying to “persuade” Chinese citizens to return to China to face charges. 

Group who hosted Chinese 'police station' received up to $200,000 in federal funding

Experts say the funding may have helped 'legitimize' the Montreal-based charity suspected of supporting efforts to silence critics of China’s regime

Author of the article:

A view inside the Service à la Famille Chinoise du Grand Montréal, one of two Montreal-area locations under investigation by the RCMP for being possible “police stations” run by the Chinese government. 

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OTTAWA — The federal government gave up to $200,000 in funding since 2020 to a Quebec charity the RCMP suspects may be hosting a secret Chinese “police station.”

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Experts on Chinese foreign interference fear that funding may have helped pro-Beijing actors expand the Chinese Communist Party’s network in Canada, while “legitimizing” the organization police suspect may be supporting efforts to intimidate or silence critics of China’s ruling regime.

That organization is Service à la Famille Chinoise du Grand Montréal (SFCGM), a Montreal-based charity that advertises itself as resource for Chinese immigrants to Canada that also promotes initiatives for the community’s well-being.

But now the RCMP says that SFCGM may also be hosting one of two alleged secret Chinese “police stations” in Quebec.

The national police force is investigating the organization as part of a larger probe aiming to “detect and perturb criminal activities supported by a foreign state that can threaten the safety of people living in Canada,” according to spokesperson Cpl. Tasha Adams.

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Financial records filed by SFCGM to the Canada Revenue Agency because of its charitable status reveal that Ottawa sent a total of $200,000 in public funds to SFCGM between 2020 and 2022 (the last reported fiscal year). Specifically, the charity reported receiving $178,450 from the federal government in 2020-2021 and $21,728 in 2021-2022.