Tuesday, February 23, 2021


Trudeau Explains Reluctance To Call China’s Treatment Of Uighurs A Genocide

Tory Leader Erin O’Toole wants the 2022 Winter Olympics relocated out of Beijing.

PATRICK DOYLE/CP
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau listens at a press conference in Ottawa on Feb. 16, 2021.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave some insight Tuesday into his reluctance to call China’s treatment of its Uighur minority a genocide, even as federal Conservatives ramp up Olympic-sized pressure on the government to make the declaration.

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Trudeau said the international community takes the term “very, very seriously” and must ensure it is only used when it is “clearly and properly justified.” Anything less, he suggested, threatens weakening the term used to describe other past atrocities.

“That’s why it is a word that is extremely loaded and is certainly something that we should be looking at in the case of the Uighurs,” he said, adding Canada is among the countries still examining alleged human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang province.

“We will continue to work with the international community and move forward on making the right determinations based on facts and evidence as appropriate,” he said.

Watch: O’Toole joins calls to move next Olympics out of China

 

China has been accused of using so-called “re-education camps” to indoctrinate the mostly-Muslim Uighur minority group into mainstream Chinese society and of having used forced birth-control measures, including sterilzation, to limit Uighur births. More than one million Uighurs and other Muslims have been detained in the camps, according to UN experts, with former detainees saying they faced forced labour practices, systematic rape, abuse, and torture.

Beijing has denied any wrongdoing, maintaining it is running a voluntary employment and language-training program. 

Last fall, a Canadian parliamentary subcommittee, which heard directly from camp survivors, declared China’s actions constitute genocide as laid out in the Genocide ConventionChina dismissed the conclusion as “baseless.” 

The convention notes that, beyond killing specific members of a group, genocide includes “imposing measures intended to prevent births” with the intent to “destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, also asked the UN Human Rights Council in November to investigate whether China is committing genocide against the Uighurs. China’s government blasted Rae’s comments as “ridiculous.”

The prime minister was asked Tuesday if he was reluctant to accuse China of genocide because of what it could mean for Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, the two Canadians detained in China who are approaching 800 days behind bars. Their arrests in December 2018 were blasted as arbitrary by the Canadian government and widely seen as retaliation for the RCMP’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition warrant.

Trudeau again said his “primary concern” was not to apply the “extremely loaded term” to situations that don’t meet the internationally recognized criteria for genocide.

“There is no question that there have been tremendous human rights abuses reported, coming out of Xinjiang, and we are extremely concerned with that, and have highlighted our concerns many times,” he said.

“But when it comes to the application of the very specific word ‘genocide,’ we simply need to ensure that all of the Is are dotted and the Ts are crossed in the processes before a determination like that is made.”

The prime minister conceded other organizations and countries have reached that conclusion about China, but said Canada was still “leaning in carefully to make sure that we can make the right declaration moving forward.” 

On its last full day of Donald Trump’s administration last month, the U.S. State department declared China was committing genocide and crimes against humanity.

The topic was raised later in question period by Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong, who asked the government to recognize a genocide is taking place in China.

Garneau suggests more investigations needed

Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau responded by saying the Canadian government has adopted a “very principled approach” when addressing any violation of human rights. 

“We are gravely preoccupied by the allegations of mistreatment of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang area and we are looking at all of the available evidence,” Garneau said. 

He suggested further investigation is required before a determination of genocide can be reached.

“In the meantime, we have urged China to allow experts into the country to examine the situation so that they can see for themselves what is actually being alleged and committed.”

Trudeau’s hesitancy with the label also made headlines in 2019 with the release of the final report of the national inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). 

Though the report concluded that Indigenous women and girls who disappeared or were murdered were victims of genocide, Trudeau did not use the term during his speech to mark the inquiry’s end.

A day later, however, Trudeau told reporters people were getting “wrapped up in debates” over the term. “We accept the finding that this was genocide, and we will move forward to end this ongoing national tragedy,” he said at the time.

O’Toole: Canada should be pushing to relocate 2022 Beijing Olympics

Earlier Tuesday, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole told reporters it is clear “China is committing genocide against Uighur Muslims.” The Tory leader also said China “established a police state in Hong Kong” and has held Kovrig and Spavor hostage without cause or due process.

Such actions prove Beijing should not be hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics that are less than a year away, the Tory leader said, adding the time had come for Canada to urge the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to move the Games.

O’Toole did not offer a suggestion for where the Olympics should be relocated, but called on Trudeau to take the lead working with Canada’s closest allies to relocate the Games out of China. Doing so would remind allies of the important role Canada plays in standing up for human rights and dignity, he said.

The Tory leader said the Olympic charter notes the movement is about, among other things, celebrating respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.

 “I think Canadians would agree that it would violate universal fundamental ethical principles to participate in an Olympic Games hosted by a country that is committing a genoicde against part of its own population,” he said. “The Olympic Games and the athletes who compete in them inspire each generation, and they must continue to provide such inspiration, but not in China, in the shadow of a genocide.” 

While there’s a genocide taking place, we should not be turning a blind eye to that and acting as if nothing is happening.Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole

O’Toole said the IOC and partner countries should look at nations that have the capacity to host, noting there are countries that have either recently hosted Winter Games or are in the preparation stage. 

Asked if Canadian athletes should compete if the Games stay in Beijing, O’Toole said he would not want to see athletes denied their chance to perform and inspire. But if it’s not possible to relocate and if there is “no change in conduct by the state of China,” then Canada must examine whether its athletes should participate, he said.

“While there’s a genocide taking place, we should not be turning a blind eye to that and acting as if nothing is happening,” he said.

O’Toole’s comments echo words from Green Party Leader Annamie Paul, who last week said Canada should support moving the 2022 Olympics because of China’s “genocidal campaign.” Paul also suggested Canada should offer to host or co-host with the United States, using existing infrastructure from past events.

“If an ongoing genocide is not reason enough to relocate a sporting event, then my question is, what is?” Paul said.

Thirteen MPs from all five major parties, including Liberals Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Sameer Zuberi and Ken Hardie, also signed on to a letter urging the IOC to move the Games.

Liberal MP Adam van Koeverdan, a four-time Olympic medallist, suggested Canada’s athletes shouldn’t be treated as political chess pieces.

Canada joined a U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet presence in Afghanistan. Though human rights concerns and discriminatory anti-LGBTQ legislation spurred talk of a possible boycott of the 2014 Sochi Olympics in Russia, Canadian athletes ultimately competed.

Trudeau suggested Tuesday that he would not be taking a leading role trying to move the Olympics from Beijing. 

“We know that the International Olympic Committee, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee and others are looking very closely at this issue and we will certainly continue to follow carefully,” he said.

In an op-ed published this month in The Globe and Mail, David Shoemaker, the CEO and secretary-general of the Canadian Olympic Committee, and Karen O’Neill, the CEO of the Canadian Paralympic Committee, argued a boycott wouldn’t work and would only punish athletes and those looking to be inspired.

“Faced with only two options – go or don’t go – our approach is to be present and join the conversation,” they wrote. “We believe we can amplify voices and use people-to-people connections to effect change, regardless of how aspirational or difficult that might seem at times.” 

With files from The Canadian Press and a file from Zi-Ann Lum


Merrick Garland Subtly Rebukes Josh Hawley After Question On Supporting Police

Joe Biden's attorney general nominee brushed off the senator's "defund the police" question with a reference to the Jan. 6 riot.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) probably didn’t get the answer he was looking for when he asked Judge Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Justice, about his stance on defunding the police.

The Missouri Republican, who led the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Congress and pumped his fist at a group of Trump supporters outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, described crime surging in cities around the country and asked Garland if he supported defunding the police. 

“As you no doubt know, President Biden has said he doesn’t support defunding the police, and neither do I,” Garland said at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Monday.

The federal appeals court judge then cited the horror Capitol Police officers experienced during the attack as a reason why he didn’t support defunding police departments. More than 140 police officers were injured during the assault on Congress on Jan. 6 and several died following the riot, which was fueled by lies about voter fraud.

“We saw how difficult the lives of police officers were in the bodycam videos we saw when they were defending the Capitol,” Garland said. 

ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Riot police push back a crowd of supporters of then-President Donald Trump after they stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C.

Since the riot, Hawley and other Republicans have made a point of lamenting violence against police during Black Lives Matter protests last year (even though the vast majority of demonstrations were peaceful). At his impeachment trial, former President Donald Trump’s defense team frequently drew a false equivalence between the Capitol attack, which sought to overthrow American democracy, and past attacks on police in response to their killings of unarmed civilians. 

Hawley also asked whether Garland considered “assaults on federal property in places other than Washington, D.C.” to be domestic terrorism, a label he recently suggested might not be appropriate for the attack on the Capitol, which he claimed Democrats are using to justify a power grab.  

“The use of violence or threats of violence in an attempt to disrupt democratic processes,” Garland said. “So an attack on a courthouse while in operation trying to prevent judges from deciding cases, that plainly is domestic extremism, domestic terrorism.” 

The Trump supporters who ransacked the Capitol also sought to disrupt the democratic process, namely the certification of Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, which Hawley still says was tainted by irregularities. 

AL DRAGO/GETTY IMAGES
Left: Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland speaks during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 22. Right: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) pauses while speaking during Garland's confirmation hearing.

Garland is expected to be confirmed as the nation’s next attorney general with broad bipartisan support. Even Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) heaped praise on the judge, calling him a “very good pick” for the post.

The reception Garland received on Monday couldn’t have been more different than in 2016, after President Barack Obama nominated him to serve as a justice on the Supreme Court. Republicans outright denied him a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, citing the presidential election later that year. Of course, they dropped the objection to election-year confirmations to the Supreme Court in late 2020 after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“It was an election year with a divided Congress,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee at the time, said in his opening statement on Monday.

“Yes, it’s true I didn’t give Judge Garland a hearing,” he added, before going to reference Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing two years later. “I also didn’t mischaracterize his record. I didn’t attack his character. I didn’t go through his high school yearbook.”

Garland, of course, was nominated two years before Kavanaugh. He also hasn’t been accused of sexual assault.

Mexican president slams audit flagging cost of airport cancellation










FEBRUARY 22, 2021

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday attacked an official report saying the cost of his 2018 cancellation of a new Mexico City airport started by the previous administration was much higher than his government had asserted.

Mexico’s Federal Audit Office (ASF) said it estimated that canceling the partly-built airport on the city’s eastern flank cost nearly 332 billion pesos ($16 billion), or 232 billion pesos more than the transport ministry stated in April 2019.

“I would like them to explain that figure,” Lopez Obrador told a news conference.

“It’s wrong, it’s an exaggeration,” he added, and suggested the ASF was helping his adversaries.

Following a widely criticized referendum he had called for, Lopez Obrador in late October 2018 announced the termination of the project, his predecessor’s flagship infrastructure scheme, which was initially slated to cost $13 billion.

Lopez Obrador was elected president in July 2018, and he made the cancellation call on the basis of the referendum nearly five weeks before he took office in December that year.

He argued the airport project was riddled with corruption and geologically unsound. Barely 1 percent of the population took part in the vote, which the president’s party oversaw.

The ambitious project’s cancellation rattled financial markets, and though the government spent billions of dollars paying off investors, Lopez Obrador has always maintained that his decision had saved the public coffers billions.

Afterwards, he ordered the construction of a cheaper alternative airport north of the city, overseen by the army.

The ASF report also highlighted other public sector waste during 2019 on Lopez Obrador’s watch, which he also questioned.

“Their figures are wrong,” he said. “I have other data.”