His resolution adopted at the Uyghur World Congress, the Bloc member is more determined than ever to postpone the Beijing Olympics. He plans to bring this issue back to the House of Commons soon, but is also pushing for elected officials from other countries to take action.
“The second that the Uyghurs adopt this motion at their annual congress, it gives credibility to the process and it gives us the free way to take multilateral action,” he said in an interview.
Observers from ten countries, including Canada, were present when the resolution was passed unanimously on Monday. The United States, Germany, France and England were among them. Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe wants them to carry this message in their respective parliaments to demand that the International Olympic Committee and its national committees postpone the Beijing Olympic Games scheduled for February in order to leave the field open to an international observation mission of the United Nations Organization.
If China denies him access or his investigators find that there has been a crime against humanity or genocide, they believe that the event should be relocated to another country.
“I think what would hurt China the most in the short term is to question the Olympics because we are attacking their pride there,” he said.
By inciting the elected representatives of the nine other countries which adopted his resolution, Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe hopes that this will exert sufficient pressure on the International Olympic Committee. He hopes to present his own soon after the opening of 44e Parliament next week.
However, the United States would be on the verge of announcing a diplomatic boycott to avoid harming the athletes, the Washington post. Neither President Joe Biden nor any other representative of the United States government would attend the opening ceremony.
A motion by Conservative MP Michael Chong passed unanimously in February in Ottawa recognized the genocide of the Uyghurs, a Muslim population in northwest China. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and almost his entire cabinet were absent during the vote.
The situation has since changed with the release in September of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. The two Canadians were imprisoned in China for more than 1,000 days. Some analysts are urging the government to take a tougher approach towards the Middle Kingdom.
The Chinese government categorically denies these accusations of genocide, despite numerous media reports of mass sterilization, rape and torture campaigns against Uyghurs. A House of Commons subcommittee concluded last year that it was indeed genocide.