Canada’s Conservatives say Olympics shouldn’t be in China

TORONTO — Canada’s main opposition party on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to press the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Olympics out of Beijing, echoing calls from the Green Party.

“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 genocide against part of its own population,” Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole said, adding China is committing a genocide against more than 1 million Uighurs in the western Xinjiang region and that Canada should not be turning a blind eye.

“Canada must take a stand and show leadership, but we do not need to do this alone. We should work with our closest allies and coordinate an effort to relocate the Games for 2022,” O’Toole said.

O’Toole said China is also imposing a police state on Hong Kong and arbitrarily detaining two Canadians in Chinese prisons. Trudeau has not said whether Canada will pressure the IOC or consider not sending Canadian athletes.

This is something the @CanadianGreens Party called for earlier this month. So domestic political pressure growing for the federal government to do something. With calls for a boycott the government said the call was for the Olympic Committee, which has not shown interest #cdnpoli

— Cormac Mac Sweeney (@cmaconthehill) February 16, 2021

O’Toole said if the Olympics are not moved, a boycott could be considered.

“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,” O’Toole added.

The Uighurs is a fraction of the Chinese population that practices Islam. China has been accused of assault, abuse, and of forcing birth control on Uighurs to limit their population.

China denies the existence of widely reported concentration camps that are being used to indoctrinate the minority into mainstream Chinese society.

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British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in October that a boycott by his country is a possibility and the the World Uyghur Congress recently labelled the event the “Genocide Games” and asked the IOC to move the Olympics from China.

A coalition of 180 rights groups representing Tibetans, Uighurs, Inner Mongolians, Hong Kong residents and others sent an open letter this month calling for a diplomatic boycott.

The IOC has said repeatedly that awarding the Olympics “does not mean that the IOC agrees with the political structure, social circumstances or human rights standards in the country” that hosts them.

Beijing is the first city to hold both the Winter and Summer Olympics. The IOC awarded it the Winter Olympics in 2015 when several Europe bidders, including Oslo and Stockholm, backed out for political or financial reasons.

The Canadian Olympic Committee didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment. The COC’s CEO has previously said there were no plans for Canadian athletes to skip the 2022 Olympics, adding such a move would only punish athletes.

David Shoemaker said the committee would be warning athletes of the consequences of speaking out, because of a National Security Law in China that has led to charges against dissidents.