Canada’s decision to resettle 10,000 Uyghur refugees in the country has begun to yield tangible results. Many Uyghurs who have been left without state protection are now being gradually relocated to Canada.
Since China intensified its repression in East Turkistan (XUAR in Chinese) and launched what has been recognized as a genocide against the Uyghurs, tens of thousands of Uyghurs and members of other Turkic families have been forced to leave their homeland and many of them were across the world without the protection of any state. These individuals continue to live under the threat of transnational repression and face the constant risk of being deported back to China.
In response to this dire situation, the Canadian Parliament unanimously passed Motion M-62 on February 1, 2023. The motion aimed to facilitate the resettlement and asylum of 10,000 Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples from East Turkistan who lacked shelter around the world. The Canadian government officially began implementing this decision in May 2024.
The first concrete result of the M-62 initiative came when the first Uyghur refugee—arriving from Malaysia—was successfully resettled in Canada on December 5, 2024. In addition, three Uyghurs who had been held in detention in Thailand for over a decade were rescued and brought to Canada under the same program.
The most visible impact of the decision was been seen in April 2025. Uyghurs living in countries such as Turkey, without any state protection, began to be resettled in Canada in a systematic and large-scale manner. Since April, it is estimated that hundreds of Uyghur refugees have arrived in Canada as part of this process.
One of the key Uyghur figures behind the idea of resettling Uyghurs in Canada—and someone who closely followed the entire process from the proposal of the motion to its implementation—is Mehmet Tohti, President of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project (URAP). He commented on this development on social media, saying:
“Canada will continue to be a source of hope for Uyghurs—a place where extinguished hearths can be reignited (reunited!?)with the opportunities they so desperately need. It will remain the final lifeline and pillar of support for stranded Uyghur refugees who have been disowned, left unprotected, deprived of state care, and victimized daily by opportunists and human traffickers.”
Senior Uyghur activist and founder president of the Ilham Tohti Initiative, Enver Can, spoke to Uyghur News about the issue and expressed appreciation for these developments. “We salute Canada’s decision to take in thousands of Uyghur refugees and appreciate the tireless work of all those involved in this process, including Mr. Mehmet Tohti,” he said.
Can also, recalling that Turkey had previously accepted Uyghur refugees, stated the following:
“On the other hand, we also recall the historical fact that Turkey was the first country in the world to give shelter to thousands of Uyghur and Kazakh refugees in the early 1950s and from 1965 to 1967. Currently, more than 50,000 Uyghur refugees live in Turkey. As one of the Uyghur refugees who was flown to Ankara from Kabul in early November 1967, I remember the warm reception by the Turks, and accommodation offered by the government more than half a century ago.”
What Is Motion M-62?
Motion M-62 was introduced by Liberal Party Member of Parliament Sameer Zuberi and was unanimously adopted by the Canadian Parliament on February 1, 2023. The motion calls on the Canadian government to resettle 10,000 Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim refugees over a two-year period starting in 2024. It builds on the February 22, 2021 parliamentary resolution recognizing China’s treatment of the Uyghurs as genocide, and it underscores the urgent need to provide a safe haven for those fleeing persecution by the Chinese government.
Be First to Comment