Thank you, Your Honour. My question is to the Government Representative in the Senate.

As we all know, on February 1 of this year, the Tatmadaw, the Burmese military, staged a coup d’état taking control of the country of Myanmar just after a democratic election. Since then, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to protest the military’s takeover day after day in the face of violent repression. Hundreds of protesters have been killed and thousands arrested.

While Myanmar’s elected leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, have been detained, the Tatmadaw is also targeting human rights defenders and freedom of expression. Journalists have been forced to flee out of fear for their lives. One journalist who did not flee is Thin Thin Aung, co-founder of Mizzima News, an independent media organization founded in exile in 1998; a founding sister of the Women’s League of Burma and the founder of Women for Justice.

To strengthen the struggling democracy, in 2014 Thin Thin Aung founded a new network working with gender justice and the peace process known as the Alliance for Gender Inclusion in the Peace Process.

Ms. Aung is well-known to civil society leaders in Winnipeg who are building an informal coalition to focus on her survival and release. She is widely respected inside and outside of her country and has contributed immeasurably to the realization of women’s human rights and peace-building in Myanmar and beyond.

On April 8, 2021, Thin Thin Aung was arrested by plain-clothed members of the military and taken to the military investigation centre. Her property, bank accounts and work-related computers and equipment were seized. The gross injustice of this unlawful detention is compounded by serious health issues. Ms. Aung is being detained at an undisclosed location on unknown charges, and evidence is emerging from Myanmar to suggest that she is likely at risk of torture while suffering the health consequences of medical deprivation.

Senator Gold, what is the government doing, and what can the government do to seek the release of Thin Thin Aung and other civil disobedience leaders like her?