QUESTION PERIOD — Foreign Affairs
Canada-China Relations
June 9, 2021
Honourable senators, I have received a letter from a group of high school students at the Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, asking me to sign a letter to Parliament urging the government to take action against what many are calling a genocide by the Chinese government toward its minority Uighur population.
They write:
If we sacrifice our morals on the altar of convenience, we will lose the very thing that makes us so proud to be Canadian. If we allow this inhumanity to be overlooked, all future apologies will be futile.
The eloquence of these students is powerful.
So through me, from them, this is my question: Is the Canadian government ready to declare the actions of the Chinese government a genocide?
Thank you for your question, and thank you for being the conduit for the important and powerful voices of students of that school, with which I am familiar.
The Government of Canada takes allegations of genocide very, very seriously. The government has repeatedly said that the international community has to work together in order to investigate the egregious human rights abuses taking place, and that’s why it has repeatedly called for an international investigation in response to the allegations of genocide. The government believes that this investigation must be conducted by an international and independent body so that impartial experts can observe and report on the situation first-hand.
The government is seized with the issue. The allegations are deplorable, but, as the government has explained on many occasions, it is not yet ready, absent this investigation, to declare it such.
I would like to follow up on questions asked by others here today about the most recent contact with the two Michaels who have been held hostage now for over 900 days. What was the last contact? What is your knowledge of their health and safety?
Thank you, senator. I don’t have the precise answers to your question. I will have to inquire and get back to the chamber.
