RCMP Won't Release Details of China Policing Agreement
Despite pressure from opposition parties, the force says the memorandum can't be made public without Beijing's approval.
Canada's RCMP has decided to keep the details of its new policing agreement with China under wraps—and that decision is drawing serious scrutiny from Parliament and diaspora communities.
The memorandum of understanding, signed in January between the RCMP and China's Ministry of Public Security, outlines collaboration on law enforcement, information exchange, and investigative assistance. But the RCMP won't release the full text. The reasoning: both parties have to agree to make bilateral agreements public, and Beijing hasn't signed off.
It's a stance that's infuriating opposition critics. Conservative public safety critic Frank Caputo and NDP critic Jenny Kwan have both written letters demanding the deal be released and scrutinized by Parliament. Kwan's letter specifically raised flags about China's Ministry of Public Security—an agency that international human rights organizations have repeatedly linked to intimidation campaigns, targeting of dissidents, and transnational repression of diaspora communities.
"Canadians deserve to know exactly what the Liberals agreed to behind closed doors," Caputo said in a statement.
The agreement came out of PM Mark Carney's January trip to China and was framed around combatting corruption and transnational crime—including telecom fraud and synthetic drug trafficking. On the surface, it sounds reasonable. But organizations representing Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, Uyghurs, and Tibetans in Canada have raised concerns that the secrecy creates fear about what information might be shared without safeguards.
Public Safety Canada has provided written answers saying information exchanges must follow Canadian law and that the RCMP has "robust internal processes" to prevent complicity in mistreatment. But for critics, those assurances ring hollow without seeing the actual agreement.
Caputo called the government's response "unbelievable." In an era of documented foreign interference on Canadian soil, transparency about law enforcement partnerships matters.