The House of Commons today accused the Chinese government of carrying out a campaign of genocide against Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims.
A substantial majority of MPs — including most Liberals who participated — voted in favour of a Conservative motion that says China’s actions in its western Xinjiang region meet the definition of genocide set out in the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention.
The final tally was 266 in favour and zero opposed. Two MPs formally abstained.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and almost all of his cabinet colleagues were absent for the vote. Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau was the only cabinet minister present. When it was his turn, he said he abstained “on behalf of the Government of Canada.”
The motion also calls on the government to lobby the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Olympic Games out of Beijing.
It was passed over the strenuous objections of Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu, who denounced the vote as meddling in China’s internal affairs.
After the vote, Garneau issued a statement saying the federal government remains “deeply disturbed by horrific reports of human rights violations in Xinjiang, including the use of arbitrary detention, political re-education, forced labour, torture and forced sterilization.
“The government of Canada will continue to work with international partners to defend vulnerable minorities and we once again repeat our call for transparency and a credible international investigation in response to allegations of genocide.
“This investigation must be conducted by an international and independent body so that impartial experts can observe and report on the situation first-hand.”
‘Stop spreading disinformation,’ says China
Media reports and academic and UN experts have accused China of imprisoning Uighurs in concentration and “deradicalization” camps and targeting them for forced labour, sexual violence, population control methods and sweeping surveillance. China’s foreign ministry has denied the accusations.
The motion calls on the government to officially adopt the position that China is engaged in genocide, and to coordinate a response with the U.S. and other allies.
While it’s not clear what impact — if any — the non-binding resolution will have on the Liberal government’s approach to China, it threatens to inflame relations between the two countries at a time when they’re already tense due to the arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou by Canadian authorities more than two years ago, and China’s subsequent imprisonment of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
In a statement posted to the Chinese embassy’s website prior to the vote, Cong insisted the reports of Uighur persecution are based on lies.
“A few people in Canada and some other western countries are talking about upholding values, but one important part of the values should be: respect facts and stop spreading disinformation and even lies,” Cong said in the statement.
“We urge the Canadian side to take seriously China’s solemn position … so as not to cause further damages to China-Canada relations.”
‘A time for moral clarity’
At a press conference this morning, Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong said the evidence of China’s crimes is overwhelming. He cited survivor testimony, satellite images, video, documents and media reports from major U.S. and international news outlets.
“Today is a time for moral clarity,” said Chong. “We can no longer ignore this. We must call it for what it is — a genocide.”
Chong and Conservative human rights critic Garnett Genuis were joined at the event by a Uighur woman who fled China and has become an outspoken critic of the Chinese regime.
WATCH | Conservatives call on all MPs to support Uighur genocide motion:
The House of Commons will vote on whether to formally declare China’s treatment of the Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims as a genocide. 1:21
Speaking through a translator, Kalbinur Tursun said she was assigned to teach Chinese at a mass detention facility and a women’s prison in the city of Ürümqi from March to November 2017.
She said that during her time in the job, she saw or heard of multiple acts of intimidation, violence and rape directed against Uighur people.
“No one should be subjected to such cruelty,” she said.
Tursun said she was forcibly sterilized in 2019 through a surgical procedure, along with hundreds of other Uighur women.
Tursun said some of her relatives are still in Chinese prisons and that Chinese authorities have targeted her for harassment and intimidation to punish her for speaking out.
Canada wants independent investigation
MPs on the House of Commons subcommittee on international human rights agreed in an October report with the experts who say China’s campaign against the Uighurs meets the definition of genocide set out by the UN. The committee heard testimony from several Uighur witnesses who gave first-hand accounts of atrocities
Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, called on the United Nations in November to investigate whether China’s persecution of ethnic Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang constitutes genocide.
Despite these calls, Prime Minister Trudeau and his cabinet ministers have been reluctant to use the word “genocide” to describe China’s actions against the Uighurs. Last week, Trudeau said the word is an “extremely loaded” one and he is not prepared to use it at this point.
Watch: MPs discuss what’s next now that the House has declared China is committing a genocide:
MPs- Rob Oliphant, Michael Chong and Jack Harris joined Power & Politics Monday to discuss the House vote to declare that China is committing a genocide and what must happen next. 8:44
In question period today, Garneau said the government takes allegations against China “very seriously” and has raised its concerns directly with the Chinese government.
Garneau said Canada wants independent investigators to go into China to document abuses and is working with international partners to gain access to the region.
A man wearing a face mask to protect against the coronavirus walks past the Olympic rings on the exterior of the National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest, which will be a venue for the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics, in Beijing, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021. A motion passed by the House of Commons today calls on the government to lobby for relocation of the games out of China due to the country’s human rights record. (Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press)
In January, former U.S. secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Trump administration had determined that China had committed “genocide and crimes against humanity” in Xinjiang region.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has continued the former administration’s policy of describing China’s treatment of the Uighurs as genocide.
“My judgment remains that genocide was committed … against the Uighurs and that hasn’t changed,” Blinken said late last month.
Canada-China tensions continue
The push by MPs to condemn China and relocate the Olympic Games comes at a time of heightened tensions. Beijing has been demanding for the past two years that Canada release a top executive of communications giant Huawei who is wanted on fraud charges in the United States.
Meng Wanzhou, who is also the daughter of the company’s founder, denies the charges, which China says are politically motivated and part of a U.S. effort to stifle the nation’s economic expansion.
Watch: Government has ‘moral obligation’ to examine ties with China, says Liberal MP:
Quebec Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi tells Vassy Kapelos on Power & Politics that the government has a ‘moral obligation’ to examine Canada’s relationship with China through the lens of genocide. 1:43
Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor were detained by Chinese authorities nine days after the RCMP arrested the Chinese tech scion at the Vancouver airport in December 2018 on a U.S. extradition warrant.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole told reporters after the vote that Trudeau and his cabinet missed an opportunity to stand up for human rights — as former prime minister Brian Mulroney did with the campaign against racial apartheid in South Africa.
“There’s real suffering going on in China. There’s a genocide happening and Canadians, while we’re free traders and I’m very proud to be a free market party, our values are not for sale and Mr. Trudeau needed to send that message today,” O’Toole said.
The Conservative leader also said that fear of a trade backlash is not a good enough reason to ignore human rights violations in China.
“We will work with any sectors impacted by us standing up for human rights and dignity, as we have done before,” he said.
Watch: O’Toole reacts after House of Commons declares China is committing genocide:
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole comments after a vote in the House of Commons that declared China is committing genocide against Uighurs. 1:24
Green Party Leader Annamie Paul issued a statement criticizing the Liberal cabinet and the prime minister for abstaining from the vote and urged the federal government to strongly condemn China, lead a discussion with allies to bring China back into compliance with international law and consider legal actions.
“Canada is not powerless, and it has a variety of multilateral and unilateral options available to respond to the genocide against the Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in China,” she said in the statement.
Ken Neumann, the National Director of the United Steel Workers issued a statement encouraging Trudeau to use the meeting to strengthen Canada/U.S. relations on a number of files.
“The new president’s stated commitments offer the perfect opportunity for the prime minister to seek Canadian exemptions to Buy American policies, permanently resolve the softwood lumber dispute and start incorporating our countries’ climate plans,” he said.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
