Advertisement

Toronto rally calls for sanctions against Chinese regime

Click to play video: 'Rally calls for sanctions against Chinese Regime'
Rally calls for sanctions against Chinese Regime
WATCH: They're calling 2020 the year of global resistance against the Chinese communist regime, a group of civil society organizations is urging the Canadian government to challenge human rights violations in China and abroad – Jan 19, 2020

Canadian civil society organizations kicked off a national campaign in Toronto urging the Trudeau government to use Canada’s Magnitsky Law to sanction key Chinese officials involved in suppressing human rights in Hong Kong, East Turkestan, Tibetan regions in China and beyond.

“It is of vital importance for the international community to speak up on this, not just to show the solidarity to all of the people under suppression — it is also to secure 300,000 Canadians living and working in Hong Kong,” said Gloria Fung, president of Canada Hong Kong Link.

“It’s also about Canadian security interests and also the core values that we all cherish.” ​

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

A rally was held at the North York Civic Centre and included a Magnitsky Law expert and leaders from Hong Kong, Uyghur and Tibetan-Canadian communities, many of whom have family impacted by the human rights violations.

Story continues below advertisement

“It is almost like a psychological collapse, not only for me but for all Uighurs because you don’t know if your mother is alive or dead,” explains Mehmet Tohi, a Uighur-Canadian activist who hasn’t seen or heard from more than 30-family members living abroad.

“It’s a horrible experience and it shouldn’t be happening in the 21st century.”

In 2017, Magnitsky’s Law came into effect. The law holds global human rights abusers accountable for their actions in an effort to deter such behavior by imposing sanctions that would impact finances, business and travel.

“Human rights are things that we uphold, they are in our interests as Canadians,” explains lawyer Marcuz Kolgar, who works for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute for Public Policy.

“When we do place those sanctions, we need to make sure that those individuals, officials, human rights abusers, don’t have money here, and if they have it we need to seize it and if they try to travel here we need to stop them from doing that.”

Story continues below advertisement

About 300,000 Canadian’s live, work or are learning in Hong Kong. The federal government has said it’s working with the international community to ensure the safety of Canadians.

Sponsored content

AdChoices