Evidence of meeting #9 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was data.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dzerowicz
Thank you, Ms. Dilimulati, and thank you, Mr. Tohti.
Now we start off with six-minute rounds.
Our first person will be Mr. Menegakis for six minutes.
Thank you.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all of our witnesses for appearing before us today.
Mr. Tohti, first of all, let me express my condolences to you for the five family members you have lost, sir, and my deep feelings for the 36 other family members whose whereabouts you are unaware of. In fact, as you know, in 2021, the Canadian Parliament voted in favour of labelling the Uyghur situation truly a genocide. As you correctly pointed out, in 2022, a private member's motion was passed, expediting the ability for 10,000 Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims to come to Canada.
We're almost in 2026. Did I hear correctly that of the 10,000 Parliament approved in 2022.... We're basically about 70 to 75 days away from the new year, 2026, and only 140 have come. Is that correct?
Executive Director, Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project
That is the correct number. As of October 16, there were 143.
Conservative
Executive Director, Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project
Those are the individuals arriving.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Do you believe that the Liberal government has made this a priority?
Executive Director, Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project
Uyghurs around the world were extremely pleased when Parliament passed the motion. We shed tears, and many of them did so. They found hope. For the first time, one country opened its arms to accept 10,000 vulnerable refugees.
Over the years, it took some time for IRCC to report back to Parliament and also to develop a program and implementation steps. The program was kick-started officially on January 1, 2024. Now, it is almost the end of 2025. This process speaks for itself. It is slow. We have enough applicants in our system to be uploaded, and as I mentioned in my testimony, because of the slow process, even in the total referrals there are 700-plus people still waiting to be processed.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Thank you for that.
I understand there must be some frustration, obviously, over that.
Parliaments and governments can make announcements and can pass things, and people can get some hope out of that, but at the end of that equation, there are real people. In your case, there are 36 family members, and five of them have passed away. Potentially, they could have been saved by having arrived here in Canada.
How many people helped by Europe have actually come to Canada?
Executive Director, Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project
We are their referral partner. We are the front face of this program, just to communicate with the applicant. We interview them. We gather information, and we help them to fill out all the necessary forms. We upload eligible applicants, determined on the basis of the Geneva Convention and relevant Canadian immigration regulations. We upload those files to the system.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
What have you seen in processing times, in the time you engage in helping someone come over? What's the processing time before you actually see them here?
Executive Director, Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project
It doesn't take 10 years, compared to some other applicants who are potentially waiting. For one applicant, for example, IRCC really did a good job, and it took just 40 days to bring that applicant to Canada from the host country. Some applicants finished their interviews in August of last year. Now, in October, after more than 14 months, they are still waiting.
It depends on the case, I guess. I don't know if there are enough resources, human resources or other resources, but it is slow.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
That begs the question: Why do you think the Liberal government has not made this a priority?
It's not 10 years, but it will have been four years since 2022 in just a few months. There are people at the other end. Can you shed some light on the conditions in which those people are living, waiting to come to Canada?
Executive Director, Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project
Yes, as I said, Uyghurs face transnational oppression by China, the second most powerful country. China has launched a Uyghur hunt program, and whoever travels to some places....
Many countries, in order to get some concessions from China, or some economic benefits, sell Uyghurs. They use Uyghur refugees as a commodity. Thailand, for example, deported 40 Uyghurs back to China. After one week, China announced that it was investing $8 billion in Thailand.
Conservative
Costas Menegakis Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
We're talking about people undergoing mass detention, torture and abuse, forced assimilation, forced labour, forced sterilization and separation from their families. The Government of Canada has been so helpful that it has made an announcement that we're going to take in 10,000 people, and we've allowed 143, while these people, real people, are suffering and waiting to come—people who were given some hope in 2022 that, hey, someone is going to help us.
Four years later, they're still waiting. They're not getting help. They're dying in these situations, and five of them are members of your family, sir.
Liberal
Liberal
Sameer Zuberi Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
Thank you to both witnesses for being here today and for the bravery of what you're doing.
I'm going to focus my questions on Mr. Tohti, given my work on Uyghur advocacy.
I want to pick up on the first theme. You mentioned that over 140 men, women and children have come to Canada from dire and trying situations. Can you share with us what their sentiment is? How are they feeling now that they're here in Canada?
Executive Director, Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project
I remember the last time. It was three weeks ago. We went to the GTA just to visit a number of new arrivals. You witnessed the people's feelings. For the first time, they expressed that they truly understand the meaning of safety: “At least we go to bed and we know that we can wake up in the morning without any police raids or any detention to the deportation centres.” That is the general feeling of the people.
Also, on immigration and other stuff, the step-by-step planning and the arrangements really touched their hearts. They feel for the first time that humanity is alive, so they have a mixed message of being grateful and, at the same time, feeling a kind of relief and, at the same time, finding hope. I'm saying this especially for the new arrivals.
Liberal
Sameer Zuberi Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
Certainly. You made reference to the fact that you and I have actually both met.... I have personally met about four dozen of the arrivals. The dominant sentiment was deep gratitude to Canadians and tasting safety and security for the first time, whereas they had never tasted it before, and a great relief, as you said. Would you say that is a dominant sentiment?
Liberal
Sameer Zuberi Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
I remember that in conversation with the four dozen, many were highly skilled and highly educated. For either of the two witnesses from the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, would you like to speak about this set of people and their skill sets as professionals and educated people? Can you describe that a bit for us?
October 23rd, 2025 / 4:55 p.m.
Executive Director, Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project
If you really want an occupation in China, you have to compete, and you have to have much more skill than the ordinary Chinese in order to get a job. Most of the Uyghurs' situations reflect exactly that. They worked really hard, and they got the necessary skills, but they couldn't live in peace in their homeland.
In those arrivals, as you remember, there are engineers, journalists, writers and house-care professionals. Most of them are university graduates and successful business persons. They are highly skilled immigrants. Some of them already have jobs, just within a couple of months, and some of them have already started to operate their small businesses.
I think that when they see such a place that comforts them, they put in all their efforts to contribute to the society that made them safe. That gratitude and appreciation now translate into their efforts in terms of how they become better Canadians and how they can contribute to this wonderful society.
Liberal
Sameer Zuberi Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
On Tuesday we heard from the deputy minister. He said that in addition to the over 140 who are here today in safety and security, there are over 740 applications that have been processed.
What are you hoping to see with those 740 applications that have been processed? How quickly are you hoping to see people arrive in Canada? What needs to be done for that to happen?
Executive Director, Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project
I check that email system at least 10 times a day, hoping to see at least one announcement or some information about one approved applicant. It is a process that people in host countries are waiting for and, at the same time, that we are waiting for here.
Most importantly, the people at immigration should take in this message: We have enough vulnerable candidates in our system. We can upload, in a single day, more than 3,000 people to our system. We've already collected all their information. We evaluated their situations. The 700 applications have been referred to IRCC for processing since July of last year.
This is in their possession, and I hope they process it as soon as possible.