The first Uyghur refugee has arrived in Canada under an effort to resettle Uyghurs and other ethnic groups persecuted by China.
A Uyghur woman is the first refugee from China’s persecuted minority groups to arrive in Canada under a federal government resettlement effort launched in 2023.
Neither the government nor those helping Uyghurs are releasing details about her, including the third country she arrived from, out of fear for her safety.
The woman arrived by plane and landed in Toronto on Dec. 5, two sources say. The Globe and Mail is not identifying them because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The Canadian government has committed to bring in Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities who have fled repression in China. This follows from a February, 2023, vote in the House of Commons where MPs voted unanimously in favour of Motion M-62, which called on Ottawa to accept 10,000 Uyghurs and other minorities, and a February, 2021, vote where MPs also backed a declaration that Beijing’s treatment of these people amounted to genocide.
Renée Proctor, a spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Marc Miller, said in a statement that Canada remains “deeply concerned about the serious human rights violations in Xinjiang affecting Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims.” Those who have fled China may still face threats, including the risk of forced return, she said.
“Canada is offering safe haven to Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims who are living in third countries and are in need of protection,” she said. “Applications are being received and processing is under way. Approved clients will receive settlement services to assist them in integrating to life in Canada.”
She said Ottawa will not “provide further information about our operational efforts as it could put these vulnerable people at further risk.”
Sameer Zuberi, a Liberal MP from Montreal who led the campaign for Motion M-62, called the arrival of the first Uyghur under the immigration resettlement program a “historic moment” for Canada. “This is a non-partisan issue. It is a humanitarian issue,” he said, adding that Canadians are aware the Uyghurs are subject to “grave and serious crimes against humanity.”
He and Mehmet Tohti, executive director of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, were at Toronto’s Pearson Airport to greet the Uyghur refugee on Dec. 5.
“This is only the beginning,” Mr. Tohti said in a statement. “We look forward to welcoming many more refugees in the months and years to come, ensuring they find safety, dignity, and opportunity here in Canada.”
Tens of thousands of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities have fled China for countries in Central Asia and Turkey and are at risk of being sent back. Beijing has been pressing these countries to deport critics in these diasporas to China, or restrict their advocacy.
A Uyghur Human Rights Project report in 2023, titled On The Fringe of Society: Humanitarian Needs of the At-Risk Uyghur Diaspora, described what it called a developing humanitarian crisis among those in self-imposed exile in states such as Turkey, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. All these countries are reliant on Chinese foreign investment.
“As the Turkish government moves closer to China in the name of international economic partnerships and bilateral alliances, Turkey has become more dangerous for Uyghurs,” the report said.
Xinjiang has been a particular concern for rights activists, Western governments and academics, who have said that China has imposed an unprecedented system of forced labour on the millions of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims who live in the region.
Michelle Bachelet, a former United Nations high commissioner for human rights, visited Xinjiang in 2022, and her office’s report from August concluded that China has committed “serious human-rights violations” against Uyghur Muslims in the region, which may amount to crimes against humanity.
Ms. Bachelet’s report detailed “allegations of torture, sexual violence, ill-treatment, forced medical treatment, as well as forced labour and reports of deaths in custody.” It also discussed a sharp decline in birth rates in the Xinjiang region between 2017 and 2019.
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