Canadian MPs unanimously vote to resettle 10,000 displaced Uyghurs – National

Members of Parliament have unanimously called on Ottawa to start a refugee program to resettle 10,000 Uyghurs fleeing persecution in China.

“This is an important moment today where we are standing together as one,” Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi told reporters on Parliament Hill.

“We have hard work to do ahead of us. We will do this work.”

The Montreal MP proposed a motion last June calling on the government to develop a plan within 100 days to resettle 10,000 Uyghur people and other Muslims of Turkic origin to Canada.

That gives Ottawa until May 12 to come up with the outline of a program that the motion says should start in 2024 and meet its target within two years.

The idea is to resettle people who are living in countries such as Turkey rather than bringing them directly from China, with Zuberi arguing that there is no safe way to do the latter.

MPs passed the motion unanimously Wednesday in the Commons. It earned 322 votes, including that of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

After passing the motion, MPs from different parties shook hands and hugged. Zuberi pumped his fist in the air as dozens of people wearing traditional Uyghur clothing clapped, with some cheering, “Thank you, Canada” from the public galleries.

While private members’ motions are non-binding, Zuberi took the support of Trudeau’s cabinet as a sign his government will follow through.

“This is a promise to the Canadian people, to the international community, that we will do this,” he told reporters, flanked by Uyghur advocates.

“I will push for people to be saved without any delay.”

Mehmet Tohti, head of the Ottawa-based Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, said the Uyghur diaspora in Canada is ready to help officials craft a plan and put it into action.