TORONTO (AP) – Canada’s House of Commons on Monday voted to declare China committing genocide against more than a million Uyghurs in the western Xinjiang region, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet abstain from voting.
The non-binding motion passed 266-0, as virtually everyone except Trudeau and his cabinet voted the measure also calling on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Olympics from Beijing.
A senior government official said that declaring something in Parliament will not get adequate results in China and that it is necessary to work with allies and international partners. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not allowed to speak publicly on the matter.
The main opposition parties supported the motion and control most of the seats in the House of Commons. Trudeau’s cabinet consists of 37 Liberal lawmakers, including the prime minister. There are 154 lawmakers from Trudeau’s Liberal Party in the House of Commons and the rest of the Liberal lawmakers freely voted on the motion.
Liberal Foreign Minister Marc Garneau abstained like the rest of the cabinet. He said in a statement that there should be credible international investigation in response to allegations of genocide.
“We remain deeply disturbed by horrific reports of human rights violations in Xinjiang, including the use of arbitrary detention, political re-education, forced labor, torture and forced sterilization,” Garneau said.
Opposition Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole said he was asking the government to confirm the statement passed by the House of Commons and to work with allies such as the US to push for an end to the camps and the conduct of the House. China.
“There is real suffering in China. There is genocide, “O’Toole said.” Our values are not being sold. And Mr. Trudeau needed to send that message today and he failed. “
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testified before leaving office that China’s policies against Muslims and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang constituted crimes against humanity and genocide. His successor, Antony Blinken, reiterated the statement on his first day in office.
Researchers and rights groups estimate that since 2016, China has gathered one million or more Uighurs and other minorities in prisons and vast indoctrination camps that the state calls training centers.
Pompey cited forced birth control and forced labor among Uyghurs. The Associated Press reported last year that the Chinese government was systematically forcing sterilization and abortion on Uighurs and other Muslim women and sending many to camps simply to have too many children.
The vote is the latest attempt to hold China accountable for its treatment of Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim and ethnic Turkic minorities, who have been subjected to unprecedented repression that is increasingly attracting international concern.
China denies any abuse and insists that the measures it has taken are necessary to fight terrorism and a separatist movement.
China’s envoy to Canada told Canadian lawmakers over the weekend to eliminate China’s internal affairs.
Trudeau has been hesitant to use the word “genocide,” which he called an “extremely charged” term.
“When it comes to the application of the very specific word genocide, we just have to make sure that all the i’s are dotted and that the t’s are crossed before we make a determination like this,” Trudeau said last week.
Kalbinur Tursun, an Uighur who fled China, joined opposition conservatives in a virtual call before the vote and said the world did not believe in the horrors of the Holocaust until the concentration camps be exposed so everyone could see them after World War II.
“Yesterday’s Jews are today’s Uighurs,” Tursun said. Two weeks ago, Tursun said Chinese police contacted her with “threatening texts and phone calls that reminded me to stop talking.” He said he spoke publicly on an appeal to save the lives of his relatives at home.
Canada continues to pressure Beijing to release Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, both detained in apparent retaliation for the Canadian arrest of Meng Wanzhou, chief executive of Chinese technology company Huawei and daughter of the company’s founder. The United States is seeking Meng’s extradition on fraud charges, and his extradition case is before Canadian courts. His arrest severely damaged China-Canada relations. China has also sentenced two other Canadians to death and suspended canola imports.
“It’s a pretty safe bet that the two Michaels are in the lead,” historian Robert Bothwell said of Trudeau.