Motion Calls on Ottawa to Recognize Beijing’s Coercion of Overseas Uyghurs to Return to China

Following parliament’s declaration that China’s oppression of Uyghurs and other Turkish Muslims constitutes genocide, a Liberal MP tabled a motion to urge the federal government to ban members of this minority group who have fled the country but continue to face intimidation by the regime to continue to support .

In February 2021, parliamentarians voted unanimously (266-0) in favor of a motion calling the arbitrary detention and mistreatment of an estimated 1 to 3 million Uyghurs by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in China’s western Xinjiang Province as genocide.

Under that motion, Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi introduced another motion, M-62, calling on the federal government to recognize that Uyghurs and other Turkish Muslims who have fled to third countries continue to “suffer from pressure and intimidation from the Chinese state to return to China” where they face serious risk of mass arbitrary detention, forced sterilization, forced labour, torture and other atrocities.

The motion also calls for recognition that many of these countries face ongoing diplomatic and economic pressure from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to arrest and deport Uyghurs and other Turkish Muslims.

The motion did not specifically say which third countries are being forced by the PRC to arrest and deport Uyghurs fleeing China. The Epoch Times reached out to Zuberi to identify specific instances of such coercion, but did not receive an immediate response.

The motion also said the government should use Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s refugee and humanitarian resettlement program to expedite the entry of 10,000 Uyghurs and other vulnerable Turkish Muslims into Canada over a two-year period beginning in 2024.

Canada cannot currently welcome Uyghurs at risk of genocide in China, but can “provide a safe haven for vulnerable Uyghurs in third countries,” which primarily include countries in North Africa and the Arab world, Zuberi said during a parliamentary debate on March 26. October 2022 .

“This program will not stop genocide. It will put a slight dent in it. This program does not live up to our obligation, the responsibility to protect ourselves. It will partially answer them. That speaks for our tradition. It’s something we can do, should do, must do,” he said.

Zuberi pointed to a number of other parliamentary initiatives aimed at addressing the CCP’s human rights abuses, which target numerous religious and ethnic minorities in its territories, as well as other Chinese citizens.

He referred to Bill S-211, which speaks of forced labor and child labor. While the context of the bill, introduced by Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne in November 2021, did not specifically mention China, it calls for combating such forms of “modern slavery” in Canada’s supply chain.

Zuberi also highlighted Bill S-223, an initiative against organ harvesting, a vile practice against Uyghurs in Xinjiang and long before that against followers of the spiritual practice Falun Gong. The bill received royal assent on December 15, 2022.

M-62 was elected by the maximum number of 20 MPs from all major political parties. The joint secondment is a formal way for MEPs to support a private member’s motion before it is called for debate.