MPs vote to label China's persecution of Uighurs a genocide
266 MPs out of 338 vote in favour of motion; majority of cabinet absent from vote
Ryan Patrick Jones · CBC News · Posted: Feb 22, 2021 12:11 PM ET | Last Updated: 14 minutes ago
Parliament today accused the Chinese government of carrying out a campaign of genocide against Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims.
Almost all Liberal MPs who don't sit in cabinet joined their opposition colleagues in passing a Conservative motion that says China's actions in its western Xinjiang region meet the definition of genocide set out in the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention.
The motion also calls on the government to lobby the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Olympic Games out of Beijing.
It was passed over the strenuous objections of Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu, who denounced the vote as meddling in China's internal affairs.
Only one cabinet minister was present for the vote. When it was his turn to vote, Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau said he abstained "on behalf of the Government of Canada."
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