MPs unanimously called on Ottawa to launch a refugee program to resettle 10,000 Uyghurs fleeing persecution in China.
Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi moved the motion last June calling on the government to launch a program in 2024 to bring Uyghurs and other Muslims of Turkish descent to Canada.
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Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi said the “historic” vote brought together “all parties, all parliamentarians…to support the Uyghur people”.
The United Nations Human Rights Office reported last August that China was committing “serious human rights violations” against Uyghurs and that some who had fled to other countries had been “deported from force”, although Beijing rejects this information.
The motion, which is non-binding, calls on Canada to develop a plan within four months to welcome 10,000 Uyghurs over a two-year period.
The idea is to resettle people from countries like Turkey rather than directly from China. Zuberi argues that there is no sure way to do the latter.
The Commons passed a motion in February 2021 recognizing China’s treatment of the Uighur people as genocide. Members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet abstained in the vote, saying more international investigations were needed.
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