Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Kenney. Good morning, committee members. I'd like to begin by just reminding us as to what is at stake when we're talking about the human rights situation in China. Husein Dzhelil is a Canadian citizen, a Uighurs, originally from China's Xinjiang dist

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Maybe I'll start and pass the floor to my colleagues. Amnesty International doesn't say yea or nay to whether Canada should be providing assistance through CIDA. What we do say, however, is that if that kind of assistance is going to be provided, it absolutely needs to be part o

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  With respect to the question about CIDA, yes, absolutely, for several years there has been considerable support from CIDA for human rights, rule of law, and good governance programming in China. Number one, I think the support in this programming would almost certainly benefit

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  With respect to the trade and human rights question, I think the assumption that trade is going to dry up or suffer if we talk about human rights has always been overstated. It's overstated in many relationships, and I think it's overstated in the Canada-China relationship as wel

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  First, I couldn't agree more with your observation that human rights change is most effective when it comes from within a country. That applies anywhere in the world, and it certainly applies within China. That's one of the reasons for one of the issues I briefly drew attention t

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  With respect to the first question, no, we have not yet had a response either from the Prime Minister or the Minister of Foreign Affairs. It has been three or four weeks, which is not a long time to not have yet received a response to the letter.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Certainly we've made some very concrete, quite specific, and, for some of them, time-specific recommendations. For example, we don't think the next session of the bilateral dialogue process should go ahead at this time. At the same time, we're hearing that plans may be advancing

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Sorry, that it not go ahead at this time.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  With respect to the Olympics, Amnesty is not proposing a boycott by Canada or any other government, but we do think the Canadian government and the international community more largely are really missing an opportunity to make use of the Olympics to advance a human rights agenda.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Our view is that the decision was made to get the uncomfortable topic of human rights out of the Canada-China relationship. While there may well have been well-intentioned and maybe even well-formed views that there could be something effective done with the dialogue process, the

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Absolutely not. Our view always has been and continues to be that the best strategy is one that combines a whole variety of different approaches.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Including things in multilateral settings. Whether or not a resolution is still the right way to go within the UN setting is debatable. The UN Human Rights Council offers a whole new set of tools and possibilities, most notably through what is known as the universal periodic rev

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I couldn't agree more. Obviously we're spending a lot of time this morning and this afternoon talking about engaging with China, with respect to human rights concerns within the country. It is vitally important to engage with China with respect to its foreign policy and the human

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Good morning, committee members. My name is Alex Neve. I'm the Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada's English branch, and it's a pleasure to be with you this morning. For many years, and this goes back before the events of Septembe

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm over my ten minutes?