Madam Speaker, these petitioners note that March 10 marks the anniversary of Tibetan uprising day. In 1959, Tibetans rose up against the invading Chinese and about 100,000 were massacred, and some 1.2 million have lost their lives in the past five decades. Authorities continue to detain 13 year old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Panchen Lama, whose detention is now approaching its eighth year.
The petitioners say that the Human Rights Commission should adopt a resolution on the situation of human rights in China, East Turkestan and Tibet, with a view to ending specific human rights abuses. Further, the petitioners call upon the Canadian government to sponsor a resolution at the upcoming United Nations Commission on Human Rights to petition Chinese authorities for permission to visit the Panchen Lama for the purpose of ascertaining his safety and well-being