Liberal candidate invited head of suspected secret Chinese police station to campaign event

MONTREAL — A Montreal-area Liberal candidate invited to a campaign event this week the head of two organizations suspected by the RCMP of operating a secret Chinese police station. The invitation by Alexandra Mendès, the Liberal incumbent running for re-election in Brossard—Saint-Lambert, sowed consternation within the Liberal party, which has faced scrutiny over multiple candidates’ comments about or apparent links to the Chinese government . In a picture provided to National Post, Xixi Li, the head of two controversial Chinese community organizations and a Brossard city councillor, is seen attending an invitation-only dinner hosted by Mendès Tuesday evening. “I’m pleased to invite you to a rallying spaghetti dinner for the 2025 federal election campaign,” reads a copy of the “invitation from Alexandra Mendès” sent to event attendees and obtained by National Post.

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Li is the executive director of Service à la Famille Chinoise du Grand Montréal (SFCGM) and the Centre Sino-Québec de la Rive-Sud (CSQRS). In 2023, the RCMP announced that it was investigating suspicions that the organizations secretly housed a Chinese “police station” that may be supporting efforts to intimidate or silence critics of China’s ruling communist regime. At the time, the RCMP said the investigation was 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.” One month later, it said it had “shut down illegal police activity in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.” No charges have been laid against Li or the organizations she heads. SFCGM and CSQRS leadership as well as Li have vehemently denied the RCMP’s allegations and filed a $4.9-million defamation lawsuit against the national police force in 2024. “These allegations only serve to stigmatize and reinforce stereotypes and prejudices against a historically marginalized group,” SFCGM leadership said in a January statement detailing the impacts of the investigation on the organization. Earlier this month, the RCMP requested that the lawsuit be put on pause for a third time until it completes its investigation by January. “Since the investigation is still ongoing and there are legal steps to be taken, we cannot offer any comments at this time,” RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Erique Gasse said in response to the National Post’s request for comment. Li’s attendance at Mendès’ event was first reported by Le Journal de Montréal . National Post obtained photos and confirmation of Li’s attendance at the event independently. “I was invited in my role as a citizen of Brossard and a sitting city councillor,” Li wrote in an email to National Post. Two Liberal sources said there was much discomfort and consternation within the party after learning that Mendès had once again invited Li to an event she organized. The sources were granted anonymity to speak freely of internal party affairs. Questions for Mendès’ campaign were redirected to the Liberals’ national campaign team, who noted that Li’s invitation was at the behest of the Mendès campaign. “The individual you mention attended a local community event hosted and organized by the local candidate. There was no donation taken from this individual,” wrote Liberal spokesperson Guillaume Bertrand, adding that the party has “no formal ties” with the SFCGM. His statement did not say if the party supported Mendès’ decision to invite Li. The links between SFCGM and the Chinese government go back years and the organization likely received funding directly from Beijing, according to a 2023 report by the Toronto Star. The newspaper cited Chinese media reports in 2016 that the SFCGM was designated as an Overseas Chinese Service Centre by China’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO), which became part of China’s controversial United Front Work Department in 2018. That designation generally comes with funding from the Chinese government. In 2017, Chinese media published pictures of Li with directors of OCAO , which experts say was an integral part of China’s “united front system” that has been accused of stifling critics of the Chinese regime abroad. The Canadian government has warned for years that Beijing uses the United Front Work Department “to stifle criticism, infiltrate foreign political parties, diaspora communities, universities and multinational corporations.” Former national security analyst Dennis Molinaro said Li’s meetings with OCAO and UFWD leaders in China is concerning and raises serious questions about her ties to the Chinese government. “It is well known that China uses community organizations to engage in united front influence activities,” he told National Post. “In a general sense, inviting groups connected to the UFWD or OCAO to political events could send the wrong message to Canadians and the diaspora community and the right message to China.” “We now have a community leader that has met UFWD leaders attending a fundraising event for a Liberal candidate,” he said. During the English-language leaders’ debate Thursday, Liberal Leader Mark Carney said China posed the greatest threat to Canada’s national security. This isn’t the first time Mendès’ apparent ties to Li have upset her Liberal colleagues. Last year, now-Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s office expressed its discomfort after the Journal de Montréal revealed that Mendès had invited Champagne to an event where he met Li. Champagne and then-Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc also disagreed with their colleague after Mendès criticized the RCMP for its “so-called investigation ” into the two organizations headed by Li. At the time, Mendès told the Journal de Montreal newspaper that she met frequently with Li and that she supported her “100 per cent.” National Post cnardi@postmedia.com Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here.