Canada’s hypocrisy: Recognizing genocide except its own against Indigenous peoples

Canada’s hypocrisy: Recognizing genocide except its own against Indigenous peoples

By David MacDonald
Professor of Political Science, University of Guelph

The Canadian Parliament is sometimes at the cutting edge of genocide recognition and human rights.

Earlier this year, the House of Commons passed a non-binding motion to recognize China’s treatment of Muslim Uyghurs as genocide. It was a principled and courageous stand and Canada was just the second country in the world to take this position.

A report by a prominent British legal team documented crimes of the genocide which included “evidence of Uyghur children being forcibly removed from their parents,” placed in orphanages and mandatory boarding schools.

It also said children “are deprived of the opportunity to practise their Uyghur culture…are sometimes given Han names, and are sometimes subject to adoption by Han ethnic families.” The report concludes there is enough evidence that their forced removal is carried out with the intention of “destroying the Uyghur population as an ethnic group.”