Pursuant to notice of September 30, 2020, moved:

That the Senate of Canada call upon the Government of Canada to impose sanctions, pursuant to the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law), against Chinese officials in relation to the human rights abuses and systematic persecution of Uighur Muslims in China.

He said: Honourable senators, I apologize, because much of what I have to say today will sound very familiar to most of you. The problem is that no matter how much I and others have been sounding the alarm over China, our government doesn’t seem to be listening. So we will keep sounding the alarm, and we will continue to call for action from our government in dealing with China’s increased aggression and malign actions, both domestic and internationally.

Honourable senators, I stood before you almost one year ago, along with Senator Ngo, and called upon our government to impose Magnitsky sanctions against China for their treatment of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists and their treatment of minority Muslims in mainland China. Here we are today, and our government is no closer to imposing these sanctions than they were last year. We shouldn’t even have to move these motions. The government should have already taken this action. China’s behaviour screams out for Magnitsky sanctions. If there was ever a case, this is the case for it. The father of all Magnitsky laws himself, Bill Browder, has said as much. Allow me to take this opportunity to remind everyone not just what the law says, but of the man for whom this law is named and why.

The full name of the Magnitsky law in Canada is Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act. You will find similar laws in other countries, including the United States of America. These laws are named after the late Sergei Leonidovich Magnitsky, a Russian tax adviser and auditor who died in a Russian prison after being held without trial for 11 months. While in custody, Mr. Magnitsky was denied visits from his wife, mother and son. He was denied medical care after suffering serious health issues and being severely beaten, including right up to his death.

Mr. Magnitsky’s supposed crime was that he had been working with Mr. Browder, the co-founder of an investment firm operating in Moscow, to expose large-scale and widespread theft, corruption and state fraud. The fraud eventually extended to police and judges, as both Magnitsky and Browder were themselves framed for alleged theft. While Mr. Browder was expelled from Russia, Mr. Magnitsky was arbitrarily detained by corrupt prison officials. You can read the agonizing details of his detainment in Mr. Browder’s book, Red Notice.

Mr. Magnitsky kept a heartbreaking diary during his time in prison, during which he detailed attempts of his tormentors to persuade him to change his story and turn on his friend Bill Browder. But Magnitsky refused. He held steadfast in his belief that he must stand for truth and do the right thing, all the while knowing that it would be so easy to just do as they wanted and all of his suffering would be over and he could be with his family again. But he chose principle. Each time he refused, his suffering grew worse until, eventually, while his spirit remained determined, his body could take no more.

Mr. Magnitsky’s death was not an easy one, it was long, slow and deliberate. He was found to have suffered a closed cranial injury, numerous bruises and wounds were found all over his body, as well as abrasions and various degrees of soft-tissue damage. This man suffered greatly for doing the right thing: for being principled. His friend Bill Browder made it his life’s mission to make sure his death was not in vain. He has spent the last few years since fighting for legislation named in Sergei’s honour to make sure that there are consequences for foreign officials who commit human rights abuses and violate principles of fundamental justice and rule of law.

That’s what Mr. Magnitsky’s law stands for. Our former colleague the Honourable Raynell Andreychuk made it her personal priority to see it passed here in Canada. She fought hard for a long time in this chamber. I saw first-hand how important it was for her to see it through. But, colleagues, she certainly didn’t take that on only to see it used to play politics, to whip it out when it’s politically expedient to do so and to set it on a shelf collecting dust when it’s not so politically expedient.

Interestingly, at the passing of this legislation, three years ago this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Canada of playing political games and calling it a “blatantly unfriendly step.” But that didn’t deter us, and we haven’t been deterred from applying this law on a few occasions since passing it. In addition to imposing it against several Russian officials, Canada has imposed Magnitsky against officials from Venezuela, South Sudan, Myanmar and Saudi Arabia, and rightfully so on each and every occasion.

Why won’t we use this legislation to hold to account Chinese officials who have shown such disregard for human rights in their persecution of religious minorities, including the Uighur Muslims, as well as their increasingly aggressive measures being used against Hong Kong pro-democracy activists? Yes, there are considerations like the continued illegal detainment of our two Michaels, commercial trade interests and the safety of 300,000 Canadians living in Hong Kong.

However, colleagues, if we’ve learned anything from the story of the man from whom this law takes its name, it’s that doing the right thing isn’t always easy. We won’t do it because it’s easy; we do it because it’s right. That has always been the Canadian way.

Never in our history as a nation have we backed down in the face of tyranny, and we certainly haven’t played the part of appeaser, which appears to be exactly the role we’re playing now, where the communist regime of China is concerned. I spoke about it yesterday, and when I was speaking to my other motion regarding Canada’s response to the conflict in Artsakh and regarding the impending genocide of the Armenian people. And, colleagues, that story is going to turn out very ugly as well, because I have a lot of information from independent media over the last 24 hours of what’s happening there. Again, if the West doesn’t move quickly, we are going to have another ethnic genocide on our hands in just a few days.

As I had said last year and again yesterday, Canada’s actions on the global stage must be guided by our strong adherence to our values and principles, not by double standards, playing expediency or corporate pressure. We cannot allow economic interests and influence of foreign powers to dictate how we react to issues of such grave danger. The interests of the few should not overwhelm the fundamental values that this country has been built on.

Canada’s actions and words must reflect our long-standing reputation as peacekeepers and peacemakers, as defenders of human rights and the rule of law. The first step in doing that must be our ability to distinguish between aggressors and innocent, peaceful victims.

And it is crystal clear who the aggressor is where China is concerned. They are becoming increasingly emboldened and increasingly aggressive, whether in Hong Kong, mainland China, the South China Sea, Taiwan, the border of India and even right here in Canada. There needs to be a reckoning now, before it’s too late, and both of my motions I’m speaking to today — this one and the additional one asking for Magnitsky sanctions — are just the start.

As I stated last year, Canada and the Chinese Communist Party have a very serious clash of values. The communist regime of China is a dictatorship possessing a complete disregard for fundamental freedom, democracy, rule of law and human rights. They are, without a doubt, one the greatest threats facing Canada, the Western democratic world and our way of life.

For many years, our successive governments, Liberal and Conservative alike, have attempted to engage in a responsible partnership with the Chinese Communist Party, pursuing an economic relationship that was supposed to be mutually beneficial. But this has come at a great cost to us, and the true extent is only now beginning to crystallize. We not only turned a blind eye to the malign actions of the CCP, but we are also now in a position where we must weigh turning our backs on our own values because of how heavily reliant we are on the relationship with China. We allow our values to take a back seat to our zealous pursuit of cheap goods and foreign markets for our goods.

Quite bluntly, we’ve allowed ourselves to be put in a compromising position, and now the time has come to decide who we want to be as a country and what we want to stand up for. Are we a country that stands for human rights, freedom, law of law and democracy, or are we a country that can be bought at any price?

Colleagues, it seems to me that it’s time to rethink and recalibrate our relationship with the communist regime of China. That starts by imposing Magnitsky sanctions for these egregious behaviours, starting with the persecution of religious minorities, like the Uighur Muslims.

Colleagues, anywhere between 1 to 3 million Uighurs who identified as Muslims have been snatched off the streets or from their homes by communist authorities in China and placed in internment camps. That is the bottom line.

In what the Chinese government calls “training centres” that offer up improved job skills, these prisoners are subjected to psychological indoctrination; physical torture, including waterboarding; sexual abuse; and then there is the mass forced sterilization of women, something that in and of itself is the definition of genocide, colleagues. There are believed to be as many as 350 of these internment camps, with many of them showing signs in satellite imaging of having been expanded in size over the past year.

And for those Uighur Muslims on the outside, they are also subjected to oppression and forced labour.

This is happening in full view of the world. These people are suffering and are facing genocide right before our eyes. It’s not enough for our government to say it’s disappointing. The communist regime in China is committing these atrocities with impunity. They are arrogant and indignant in their blatant disregard for human life and human rights.

After the Holocaust, the Western world vowed we would never again stand by and allow such actions. Then we had Rwanda. Again, we vowed that we would “never again” stand for that. Then we had the Yazidis. Then here at home, we’re quick to denounce Islamophobia, though. We’re quick to denounce anti-Muslim rhetoric, and rightfully so. It’s abhorrent and unacceptable.

So where is the outrage over what’s happening to these Muslim people in China?

Colleagues, the least we should be doing as a nation in light of what’s happening to the Uighur Muslims at the hands of the CCP is imposing sanctions, but at least it would be a start. We have the tools available to us, and we must start using them. We must back up rhetoric with action. We can’t say we are a nation that defends human rights and religious freedoms and then stay silent on something like this. We can’t say we stand up for Muslims in this country, but we don’t stand up for them and speak out against genocide and atrocities that are taking place against Muslims in China. It makes no sense, colleagues.

That’s why I hope you will support this motion. I hope the Canadian government finds it in their heart and mind to understand that it’s not enough just to express disappointment and terms of rhetoric; we need to provide action. We have the tools, and the Magnitsky act is the ideal tool to start with.