Debates of Feb. 18th, 2021

Opposition Motion—Religious Minorities in China

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

I have to give the member 10 seconds to answer.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Madam Speaker, right now the government has a responsibility to listen to Parliament. It has a responsibility to listen to every member in this place. It also has a responsibility to act with integrity, as we move forward, for the betterment of the Uighur people.

I miss the member at committee as well.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to speak to this opposition motion, and I want to thank the member for Wellington—Halton Hills for introducing it. It is substantive and addresses a real and pressing issue, and I can honestly say, having had the opportunity to sit in the House today and listen to the speeches, questions and answers from all sides, that I genuinely feel more informed and understand this issue better than I did when I woke up this morning. I give credit to the member for that.

Our government has on many occasions spoken in the House about the work it is doing to strengthen the rules-based international order. In the wake of the Second World War, the foundations of this order were laid by numerous outstanding Canadians, including Louis St-Laurent and Lester B. Pearson. Since then, Canada has worked with other countries to build on those foundations. The result has been unprecedented periods of peace and prosperity. We have not achieved perfection, but we have certainly made progress. Respect for human rights lies at the heart of the rules-based international order.

The United Nations was founded on three pillars: to advance peace and security, development, and human rights. Its member states came together 72 years ago to approve the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, putting people, not states, at the centre of the new international order. This declaration lays out the obligations that all governments have to their citizens.

Today, the rules-based international order faces dire challenges. There are some governments that seem to believe in an international order that is not for the people but for the states. This is certainly not Canada's approach.

Canada stands up for human rights everywhere and at all times. Canada stands up for the people of Venezuela, for the people fleeing their homes in Myanmar, for the people of Yemen suffering in the midst of war, for the people of Belarus calling for free and fair elections and for the Uighurs facing repression, persecution and arbitrary mass detention.

It is clear that the promotion and protection of human rights deserve more attention than ever before. Canada is doing its share. However, the challenges are daunting across a whole range of human rights, especially now in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Freedom of opinion and expression and the freedom to think what we want and say out loud what we want are cores of our human identity, yet in too many countries this is under assault. On the multilateral front, Canada has consistently raised concerns regarding violations of freedom of expression, including freedom of the media at the UN Human Rights Council, at the UN General Assembly and in other international forums.

Canada has worked with its partners to pass resolutions at the UN on freedom of expression, human rights defenders, Internet freedom and for the safety of journalists. Canada helped found and co-chairs the Media Freedom Coalition, a group of 43 countries committed to addressing issues around freedom of press.

It is not only the freedom to speak that is under attack. Many governments are also cracking down on the freedom to love, lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex and two-spirit people face discrimination and violence. Canada works to advocate for the rights of LGBTI persons in two areas: advocacy in the decriminalization of same-sex conduct and the elimination of violence and discrimination targeting LGBT people.

Canada has developed programming that addressed human rights training for police, the judiciary and schools. Canadian missions support the work of the local LGBTI civil society groups through the Canada fund and local initiatives. Canada also serves as co-chair on the Equal Rights Coalition, the world's first intergovernmental forum for the protection of the rights of LGBTI people. We continue to play a central role in the coalition.

People in some countries are deprived of their liberty and have their economic, social and cultural rights threatened because they are members of religious minorities. Canada's approach to promoting freedom of religion or belief includes advocating on behalf of persecuted faith and belief communities opposing religious hatred, discrimination and others, and fostering greater mutual respect and understanding through interfaith, intercultural dialogues.

In addition, Canada is committed to building a more inclusive world, free from racism. As recent events at home and abroad have made increasingly clear, systemic racism is a global concern, a root cause of exclusion and one of the greatest barriers to our collective well-being. As we work at home to dismantle systemic racism, which continues to impact indigenous peoples, Black Canadians and other racialized people, we are also promoting anti-racism and inclusion abroad by continuing to lead the conversation about the value of inclusion and respect for diversity with our international partners bilaterally and multilaterally.

Canada also continues to be committed to the struggle to see the human rights of women fully recognized. Canada is a long-standing advocate for the advancement of gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls, and the realization of their human rights both at home and abroad. Internationally, Canada has a long-standing commitment to the human rights of women and girls, with the affirmation of feminist values at the core of our foreign policy efforts, including the launch of our feminist international assistance policy.

One of the most the most effective ways of improving the status and well-being of women and girls is by ensuring their full, equal and effective participation in decision-making at all levels politically, economically and socially. Canada works in a multilateral context with the Human Rights Council and other forums to champion issues such as eliminating violence against women and ending early and forced marriage. We need women's leadership to catalyze the change we want to see globally and help tackle many of the world's most intractable problems. Many governments that deny basic human rights to their own citizens are cracking down on people who stand up for the rights of their neighbours.

Canada recognizes the key role played by human rights defenders in promoting and protecting human rights and strengthening the rule of law. The promotion of respect for human rights defenders is critical and inclusive, safe and prosperous for societies. Canada is concerned with the rising threats against human rights defenders, such as enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrest, unlawful imprisonment, torture and unfair trials.

Canadians are reminded every day about the importance of human rights, and they expect their governments to be vigorous advocates for human rights at home and abroad. This is why the government is committed to protecting people at risk of persecution and to speaking out against the regimes that violate the fundamental freedoms of their people, including those that engage in torture and other forms of mistreatment.

Canada highly values the rules-based international order and will continue to co-operate with the international community and civil society to put an end to torture. In addition, Canada has made it clear that it opposes the death penalty and supports the abolition of the death penalty internationally. Canada undertakes clemency intervention in all cases where Canadians are facing execution in foreign jurisdictions.

In an era of rapid technology and technological developments, Canada strongly believes that the human rights and fundamental freedoms individuals have offline must also be protected online. Through its participation in the Freedom Online Coalition, Canada has affirmed the importance of supporting Internet freedom for individuals worldwide, as well as links between digital inclusion and the protection and promotion of human rights.

Every human being is born with human rights. That is the reason for Canada to commit itself to building respect for those rights. However, while human rights have intrinsic value, they also have practical value. The societies where diversity and human rights are respected, societies that adopt inclusive approaches so that all citizens can contribute, are the most successful. Canada believes that all governments must recognize that they are accountable to their own people. We need to remember that people are at the heart of the international rules-based order.

There is much to be done to build greater respect for human rights globally. To reach our maximum potential, all governments must do their part. Canada will continue to work to advance respect for human rights by standing up and by reaching out.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Madam Speaker, if this motion, and the amendment before of the House, are adopted, but the government votes against the motion, does the member believe the government has an obligation to uphold the terms of the motion?

As the member knows, these motions are not statutorily binding, but they are binding in the normative sense of the word. If we believe in upholding democratic norms, it is important to respect the will of this House. If this motion is adopted, does the member believe the government needs to follow the terms of this motion, even if the government voted against it?

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Speaker, I know the member has asked this question of a couple of other people today. I will try to be as direct as I can. I genuinely believe that this government will do what is required of it to do.

The member might be right that it is not a statutory obligation, but I strongly believe that this government always does and always will respect what this House puts forward. I also believe this government will act appropriately, regardless of what the outcome might be. It is hypothetical to guess what might happen next week in the vote. I know the government will always do what it is required to do and what is the will of the people who elected us to this House.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech in which he spoke a lot about the importance of human rights. He also raised the issue of feminism.

I would like to remind this government, which claims to be feminist and to defend feminist values, that 80% of Uighur women are currently at risk of forced sterilization. Rape is being used as a weapon against them.

With that in mind, does the government agree that we need to send a strong message to the community to defend Uighur women who are the victims of horrific sex crimes? Will the government vote in favour of the Bloc Québécois's amendment to relocate the 2022 Beijing games?

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Speaker, I thank all the members who, as I said at the beginning of my speech, contributed today. They have really helped to inform me about this particular issue. I will be the first to admit that when I walked into this chamber this morning I did not understand the great depth to which people were being persecuted. I am much more aware of that now, as a result of the deliberation that has happened here.

I absolutely think that Canada needs to send a strong message. In any case, when acts such as what we have been made aware of are happening, there is a very important role for Canada to play in terms of delivering a strong message, whatever that might be, and at whatever time it might be warranted.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Madam Speaker, the member spent a lot of time talking about inclusion, women's leadership and Canada being a face of how to do it right to the international community.

I just want to remind the member that almost 20 months ago the government made a commitment to release an action plan to implement all 231 individual calls for justice in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls report. In my riding, we have organizations that are fundraising by making pins, so they can put up billboards to let people know about the indigenous women and girls who have gone missing whom families have been looking for, in some cases for decades.

I am wondering when the government is going to stand up and show that kind of leadership. It is so important, when we look at the atrocities across the world, and particularly today in China, that Canada perform that leadership as well. Could the member could speak to that?

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member's intervention. I have always gotten along great with her when we have had the opportunity to be on committee together.

I can honestly say that I am extremely proud of the progress this government has made. Is there more work to do? There absolutely is more work. Will there always be more work to do? I imagine there will be, long after both she and I are no longer in this House.

It is a relationship that has led to consequences and actions that will require decades to repair. We need to do as much as we can now, and move as quickly as we can. I would completely agree with the member that this relationship is something that needs to be worked on, and there will always be more to do.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise virtually in the chamber on behalf of the good people of Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola.

I will be sharing my time with the member for Port Moody—Coquitlam.

Earlier today, the member for Wellington—Halton Hills shared with us chilling and horrific accounts of the atrocities Uighurs are facing in China. The details and evidence are well documented and are very disturbing. Let there be no doubt that this is genocide.

I will even go a step further to suggest that this is literally a textbook example of the horror that is a genocide. Let us make no mistake about that. Deep down, I do not believe there is a member in this place that is in doubt of that fact. Indeed, we have heard current and former members of the Liberal caucus publicly voice that view.

I mention that today because, ultimately, I believe what we are really here today to debate is this question: Why does the Prime Minister refuse to stand up for some of the world's most vulnerable people, the Uighurs, and rightfully call out and condemn this as genocide?

I believe all of us know part of the answer. It is not because the Prime Minister is afraid to use the term “genocide”. Indeed, he has stated that a genocide has occurred here in Canada. Therefore, why is there a refusal to call it a genocide against the Uighurs? We all know the answer. It is because the Prime Minister, for whatever reason, refuses to stand up to the Chinese Communist Party government.

We do not know why that is. It has gotten so bad that even the Liberal member for Malpeque has had to stand up and tell the Prime Minister to “wake up and smell the roses” when it comes to China.

I highly doubt that any member of the House would disagree with the advice the member for Malpeque gave the Prime Minister.

I applaud the member for Malpeque for calling his leader on his bad behaviour, especially since he knows what happened to former Liberal member Jane Philpott, who dared to speak her mind and challenge the Prime Minister on his bad behaviour. When a Liberal member dares to criticize their boss's bad behaviour, that can spell the end of their career. That is exactly what the member for Malpeque did. This motion is our opportunity to send a strong message to the Prime Minister.

Let us never forget that, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, Canadians gather to pay tribute to the many courageous Canadians who made so many sacrifices for our country. They left their homes, their loved ones and their families not only to serve Canada but also to resist tyranny and oppression and fight for the most vulnerable. That is how Canada operated back in the day.

I am deeply concerned about the fact that this has changed under the current Prime Minister. If we allow the Prime Minister to ignore the atrocities and the genocide being perpetrated on the Uighur people in China, his failure will be Canada's failure. We cannot allow that to happen. That is not the Canada I believe in.

I am wondering if that is the Canada the government believes in, a Canada that looks the other way, that does nothing about genocide. This all stems from the fact that we have a Prime Minister who is completely incapable of standing up to the Chinese communist government.

I would like to share a quote from Irwin Cotler. He said, “Indifference in such mass atrocities, let alone genocide, always means coming down on the side of the victimizer and not on the side of the victims.” This is the path that the Prime Minister is trying to put us on, the side of the victimizer. Again, I ask why. It is because, when it comes to the Chinese Communist government, the Prime Minister refuses to stand up and show leadership.

Let me read that quote again from Irwin Cotler. He said, “Indifference in such mass atrocities, let alone genocide, always means coming down on the side of the victimizer and not on the side of the victims.”

I ask a simple question. Who will members stand with? Will they sit with the Prime Minister in silence and come down on the side of the victimizer, or will they take a stand on behalf of the Uighur people and support this motion?

Let us be clear what this motion is asking us to do. Leaving out all the preamble today, we, as members of Parliament, are being asked to support recognizing that a genocide is currently being carried out by the People's Republic of China against Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims, and to call on the government to officially adopt this position. This is precisely what Mr. Cotler and a great many others are asking Canada to do. Today, one can take that stand, or one can continue to sit in silence.

Before concluding my remarks, I would like to ask everyone a simple question.

Ultimately, our time here is limited. When we look back and think about the time we spent here, we will all undoubtedly have good memories. Let us hope that we will not have many regrets.

Let us ask ourselves this question: If each one of us decided to sit in silence today and to join the Prime Minister in opposing this motion, would this be one of our best memories?

Today, we have an opportunity as members to stand up and send a powerful message. In doing so, we continue Canada's long-standing and proud history of standing up for human rights and defending the most vulnerable. I believe this is the Canadian way. As members of this place, and as Canadians, let us stand united. We need to adopt this motion.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Madam Speaker, in this debate, many of the comments we have heard have revolved around the relevance of the amendment moved by my colleague, the member for Lac-Saint-Jean.

The amendment calls upon the IOC to move the games, and many people wondered whether that was the right way to go about it, whether the IOC was going to agree and whether it was a good way to apply pressure. I would remind members that there have been similar cases in the past. For example, in 1968, about 40 countries in Europe, Africa and the Caribbean threatened to boycott the Olympic Games because South Africa was participating, and the IOC gave in. In 1972, some African countries threatened to boycott the games because of the presence of Rhodesia, a racist country, and the IOC gave in.

The IOC is therefore sensitive to international pressures related to human rights issues. It is very sensitive to that. I think the amendment from my Bloc Québécois colleague is really important. We can work with that. The IOC is sensitive to global human rights issues. I think this a very important amendment.

Could my colleague tell us how this kind of international pressure could be really effective? Could he talk a little bit more about that?

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Madam Speaker, we must do our own work here and support this motion. We need to take a stand so we can communicate that the highest political institution in the land, this place, this Parliament, has come out clearly and succinctly to call out the Communist Chinese government for committing genocide. We must do that first. If we take that moral leadership, I believe others will as well.

My own leader has said that the games should be moved, and I believe that our resolution around this, with all parties united, would be a powerful message to both the committee and to the world.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Speaker, we recently learned that the Canadian government has contracted out the visa application centre work to a company called VFS Global, which in turn has subcontracted that work out to another company that is owned by the Beijing police.

Given the situation of what is going on with the genocide of the Uighurs and the situation in Hong Kong with the national security law, does the member think that this is the appropriate thing to do, or should the government cancel that contract and bring that work back in-house, especially given the sensitive nature of the information that the processing centre might receive?

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Madam Speaker, I came to the chamber today prepared to try to persuade all members to vote in favour of this motion calling out the communist Chinese government on genocide. Whatever reasons an individual member may have, such as the member for Vancouver East, I hope that they will vote in favour of this. I believe that is the big thing. We all will have a reason, but the best reason is to protect our values and to call out China and not allow a normalization of the current path that, if we do not intercede as a country, may continue to happen.

[Paul Manly, Green, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Madam Speaker, I am going to support this motion, because I agree that we need to call out China for its human rights abuses, as this is a genocide and we need to do something about it. I am seriously concerned about our trade integration with China and the Canada-China FIPA that we have. We have heard several times different members say that the old China is not the same as the new China. When we had the team Canada trade missions to China after Tiananmen Square, I would have said that was a bit of a naive move, and I think that having the Canada-China FIPA as a locked-in agreement for 31 years is seriously problematic.

How are we going to deal with China in terms of that investment treaty and the integration of our supply chain with, and our dependence on, China?

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Madam Speaker, I would simply say that if the member wants to support this motion for whatever reason, because I believe it is the right thing morally for us to do as a country, that is good. I would not tie this to anything other than its being the right thing to do. This member can raise economic concerns and other matters—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

We will resume debate with the hon. member for Port Moody—Coquitlam.

[Nelly Shin, Conservative, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Madam Speaker, it has been less than a month since I saw photo presentations of emaciated women and children lined up in the Auschwitz death camp and listened to Holocaust survivors talk about their scars from forced separation from family members, torture, the death of loved ones, gas chambers and the exploitation of their bodies for science experiments.

January 27 was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Six million Jews died in the Holocaust, and the phrase “never again” is solemnly spoken as a reminder to be vigilant and a call to action to prevent and stop genocide.

Today my Conservative colleagues and I are calling on the government and members to acknowledge that the Government of the People's Republic of China is subjecting Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims to genocide.

Numerous entities have drawn the conclusion that the Government of China is committing acts of genocide that include mass detention, systematic population control and sexual violence. The reports provide elaborate details on the depth of the abuses perpetrated by the government against this minority group.

The Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development released a statement October 21, 2020 that reads:

The Subcommittee unequivocally condemns the persecution of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang by the Government of China. Based on the evidence put forward during the Subcommittee hearings, both in 2018 and 2020, the Subcommittee is persuaded that the actions of the Chinese Communist Party constitute genocide as laid out in the Genocide Convention.

I just want to note here that this is a statement by a committee of members across all aisles. CBC News reported a statement by Bob Rae that there are aspects of what the Chinese government is doing that fit the definition of genocide in the genocide convention. I would also like to note that Bob Rae is Canada's ambassador to the UN. Genocide is defined by the genocide convention with respect to three constitutive elements.

First, the victims form part of a protected group of national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Second, the perpetrators committed one or more enumerated acts against members of the group, killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. Third, the perpetrators acted with the intent to destroy the protected group in whole or in part.

All three elements are present a genocide in the heinous acts of persecution against the Uighur people.

On January 19, 2021, outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo said:

After careful examination of the available facts, I have determined that since at least March 2017, the People’s Republic of China, under the direction and control of the Chinese Communist Party, has committed crimes against humanity against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other members of ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.

The current U.S. Secretary of State Blinken has stated numerous times that he also believes genocide is being committed against the Uighurs. American officials acknowledge this as genocide. They are our neighbours and closest allies.

The existence of detention camps holding a million Uighurs has been confirmed through government documents, witness testimony and satellite imagery. Most people in the camps are innocent. They have not committed any crimes. They have no means to defend themselves. Human rights groups say their crime is being Muslim. They are being persecuted and killed because of their religion. This is unacceptable and it is not a time to be silent.

Between 2017 and 2019, approximately more than 80,000 Uighurs were forced from their homes to work in factories across China and in detention camps. The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews wrote in a letter of “People being forcibly loaded onto trains, beards of religious men being trimmed, women being sterilised, and the grim spectre of concentration camps”.

This bears similarities to what happened in Nazi Germany 75 years ago. Indeed, Jonathan Sacks, the U.K.'s former chief rabbi, tweeted on July 22:

As a Jew, knowing our history, the sight of people being shaven headed, lined up, boarded onto trains, and sent to concentration camps is particularly harrowing.

Jewish leaders acknowledge the eerie familiarities of what is happening to Uighurs with what the Nazis did during World War II. These are serious statements coming from a community that experienced severe genocide.

In a BBC article earlier this month, according to independent testimonies, more than a million people have been detained in the internment camps. Former detainees have testified to having experienced or witnessed a system of organized mass rape, sexual abuse and torture. Women were also forcibly sterilized or fitted with IUDs. Many women turn to alcohol to cope with the trauma. One woman who fled Xinjiang says, of a victim who is now an addict, she was “like someone who simply existed, otherwise she was dead, completely finished by the rapes.... Their goal is to destroy everyone”, she said, “And everybody knows it.”

This is absolutely abhorrent. These women are experiencing trauma that will probably take a lifetime to overcome, if they survive: nightmares, anxiety, fear, depression, self-esteem issues, challenges in intimate relationships and the grief of forcibly losing one's ability to bear children.

When asked by reporters why the government has not yet acknowledged the actions of China's government against the Uighur Muslim minority as genocide, the Prime Minister said that the word “genocide” is “extremely loaded” and something that we should be looking at to determine if we can label it as genocide. The fact that leaders and members of his own party, Canada's ambassador to the UN and international communities are calling this genocide makes the Prime Minister's failure to acknowledge it as such disturbing.

On February 3, my colleague from Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan asked the Prime Minister if he believed the testimony of female Uighur victims of systemic sexual violence in Chinese state-run concentration camps where sexual violence is sometimes paired with electrocution. The Prime Minister's response was:

For years now we have been advocating directly with Chinese leadership for transparency and better treatment of the Uighurs in western China...We need to have international investigators, including from the UN, accessing the Xinjiang province to be able to keep people safe there and everywhere around the world.

We know that the Government of China will not allow UN investigators access to its torture facilities. I wonder if the Prime Minister really understands the full ramifications of what is going on, because underneath his diplomatic response, it seem to me, as a woman, that the PM is saying, “I'll try to get the perpetrator's permission to check out the crime scene. If we can go there and see if what you're claiming is actually happening, well then we'll take it from there.”

Does he have more faith in the Chinese government to allow an investigation to take place or does he believe the victims? This is the same government that continues to disregard human rights and international law with regard to Hong Kong, Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners, Christians and other minority groups. We also have the two Michaels still detained in China.

Going back to the Prime Minister's insensitivity, we just debated Bill C-3, and passed it unanimously. This piece of legislation had to be passed, because rape victims are often treated unfairly and often revictimized by judges who condemn the women and not the perpetrators, and their testimony is dismissed. The women relive their trauma and end up further victimized. Therefore, I would like to ask: Is it the Prime Minister's intention to gaslight the Uighur women who had the courage to step forward with their stories? By saying that he is consulting directly with the Government of China on these issues to seek investigations shows that he does not acknowledge the plight of these women.

My Conservative colleagues and I call on the Liberal government to join our allies in the U.S. to officially recognize the Uighur genocide, to take coordinated action with other countries internationally in response to this genocide and impose Magnitsky sanctions against those who are responsible for the heinous crimes being committed against the Uighurs.

I am sitting here in my constituency office today with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms behind me. This is our Canadian legacy. We stand for it at home. That is why we come to the House of Commons as parliamentarians: To uphold the dignity of every human being and do our best to allow each one to prosper uniquely in their own way. When we see our fellow humanity abroad suffering, as the Uighur and Turkic Muslims are in China, it is time to stand up and acknowledge the atrocity for what it is—genocide—and take realistic, practical steps with our international allies to hold the Government of China to account.

We have a moment of decision today on our values, the identity of Canada and what freedom and human rights are really about. There is no room for hypocrisy in this hour. I understand that there are complex economic and social layers in our relationship with China. However, genocide is genocide, human rights are human rights, and I implore the government and ask my colleagues across all aisles to adopt the position my Conservative colleagues and I are addressing today.

As we consider this motion, I would ask this: What is the legacy that my colleagues would like to leave behind? Is it one of fear or moral courage? We have come so far as a nation, and we still have a ways to go to really act with true freedom and moral courage, but in this hour there is an opportunity, and I fear that being indecisive about whether this is genocide is making us go backwards. Canada has a role—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Shefford.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Port Moody—Coquitlam for her speech, which put a lot of emphasis on the horrible crimes against Uighur women. I will read you an excerpt from a testimony:

In this example, they brought 200 prisoners to the hall, and they picked out one young girl, about 20 years old, and they forced her to accept the guilt for something that she never had done. She was crying and she was saying that she was guilty even though she was not guilty. She accepted it in front of the 200 prisoners. Then the Chinese guards started raping her, one by one, in front of all these 200 prisoners. They went down the line and raped her one by one in front of all the people.

I would like to hear my colleague's thoughts. Despite these disturbing testimonies and although her party says it is prepared to support the motion moved by my colleague from Lac-Saint-Jean to relocate the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games, what does the hon. member think of the fact that her own party, the Conservative Party, collaborated on having Chinese nationals deported when it was in power? What does she think of the fact that Huseyincan Celil, a Canadian of Uighur origin, has been imprisoned in China with no Canadian consular services since 2006, when the Conservatives were in power? I would like her view in 2021 on the importance—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

Order. The hon. member for Port Moody—Coquitlam.

[Nelly Shin, Conservative, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Madam Speaker, going back to what my colleague said about the rapes and essentially the gaslighting and condemning, this is why our motion today is so important. This issue is more than just about killing people and trying to decimate them. The whole issue of human rights violations like the way the women are being treated is not just about killing them, it is the way they are being killed, demoralized and humiliated in the process. All of it, the whole package, is disgusting and we have to make it end.

As for the rest of what my colleague said, for the sake of this motion, I would like to focus on the fact that this really needs to come back to human rights.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Madam Speaker, as new Democrats, we also recognize China's mass detention, forced labour, surveillance and population control measures that have been directed against the Uighurs and Turkic Muslims fit the definition of genocide and we support an immediate, independent investigation. The Liberal government needs to act in concert with other countries and international organizations to put pressure on China to put an end of this.

The word genocide comes with a very serious responsibility. If the House of Commons passes this motion, what actions would the member opposite like to see the government take to ensure an end to the ongoing genocide of the Uighurs?

[Nelly Shin, Conservative, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Madam Speaker, the first step that absolutely needs to happen is for all of us to unanimously accept this is genocide. When we acknowledge it, then we are saying we are acknowledging the atrocities that are happening and that these women are being victimized. On the steps following that, the immediate things we can do are, for example, to redirect the Olympics somewhere else to show we are serious, that there are consequences and accountability connected to acts of violations against human rights.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Madam Speaker, when I spoke to our motion this morning, some Liberal members indicated that of the Five Eyes countries, the United States was alone in recognizing a problem with the Uighur people. My response was that Canada could show some leadership and be the second. What does my colleague think?