Montreal Chinese groups sue RCMP for alleging they hosted illegal 'police stations'

Two Montreal-area Chinese groups and their director have filed a defamation suit against the RCMP for alleging they hosted clandestine Chinese government "police stations."

Chinese Family Services of Greater Montreal, the Centre Sino-Qubec de la Rive-Sud, in the South Shore suburb of Brossard, and Xixi Li, the executive director of the two groups, say the federal police force acted improperly when it revealed the groups were the subject of an investigation.

According to a court filing, the groups say the RCMP did not properly investigate before publicly accusing them of being linked to foreign interference, an allegation they deny.

The organizations are seeking more than $4.9 million in damages and say the allegations have cost them $3.2 million, including lost government funding.

Li, who isa Brossard city councillor, and the Centre Sino-Qubec de la Rive-Sud arealso suing the municipality's mayor, Doreen Assaadfor some of her Facebook posts after the RCMP'sallegations were made public. Li is asking for $49,000 and the centre is asking for $19,000 for damage to their reputations.

Last year, the RCMP confirmed they were investigating allegations that Chinese government officials were operating clandestine "police stations" out of the two groups' facilities.

At the time, RCMP officers said the stations were used to put pressure on members of the Chinese community in Canada, sometimes by threatening friends or relatives living in China.