Boycott Beijing? Canada under pressure to take stand against China’s human rights offences

After the U.S. announced it would not be sending any diplomatic officials to next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, there is growing pressure for Canada to do the same.

The diplomatic boycott was announced at the White House Monday by press secretary Jen Psaki.

“We will not be contributing to the fanfare of the Games,” Psaki said, specifically speaking to China’s “egregious” human rights abuses, including its treatment of predominantly Muslim Uyghurs in the region of Xinjiang.

“U.S. diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the (People’s Republic of China’s) egregious human rights abuses and the atrocities in Xinjiang,” Psaki said.

“We simply can’t do that.”

It was not a huge surprise as U.S. President Joe Biden hinted the United States would take a stronger stance against China in a meeting last month with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

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But since the official announcement, Canada’s prime minister has not made any public statements regarding the decision.

Canada’s Minister of Sport, Pascale St-Onge, says so far, no decisions have been made on Canada’s direction, but confirmed there have been talks.

“We are of course very preoccupied with the human rights violations in China. It’s not a decision that we are going to take lightly,” St-Onge said Monday.

Trudeau has expressed contempt for China’s record on human rights, as well as the years-long detainment of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig who were only recently released from custody in that country.

Their detainment was widely believed to be a retaliatory tactic by China after Huawei CFO and Chinese citizen Meng Wanzhou was arrested at Vancouver International Airport and placed on house arrest over fraud charges in the U.S.

She was allowed to leave Canada at the end of September due to the U.S. dropping the extradition case against her.

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Canada-China relations have remained strained, leading many to call for Canada to take a stand.

Heather McPherson, NDP MP and Foreign Affairs Critic is among those asking Trudeau to take action.

“We need to send a message to Beijing that the world is watching,” McPherson said earlier this week.

Federal Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole echoed sentiments the message of the games goes beyond the world of sport.

“We are all proud of the men and women who have trained so hard to wear the maple leaf, but they should also wear our values abroad as well,” he said.

Whether Canada will decide to follow in the same vein as the U.S., and what will be the decision from other allies, is yet to be made public.

With files from Caryn Ceolin and The Canadian Press