Certainly, if there is a scope for expansion of the committee, invitations should be sent to Tibetan human rights defenders from inside Tibet. Many committee members would know the story of Tibetan language advocate Tashi Wangchuk, who was sentenced to five years in prison just for advocating and speaking about the preservation and promotion of the Tibetan language to a New York Times reporter.
The Canadian government has issued statements for the immediate and unconditional release of Tashi Wangchuk in the past. We have communicated with Canadian officials at the embassy in Beijing, and we're thankful that the embassy sent its official to try to get inside the court, when his sentencing hearing was about to happen.
Unfortunately, and not surprisingly, Canadian officials, as well as officials from other countries, were not allowed to get inside the court to hear about the details. This is usually quite common to many Tibetans, which is something I have spoken about in my previous testimony at the foreign affairs committee. Many Tibetans who are political prisoners or prisoners of conscience do not have the right to access lawyers and do not have the right to access their families when they are detained.