By Diary Marif
New Canadian Media

The Uyghur Canadian diaspora is celebrating a unanimous House of Commons vote that calls on the government to create a program for the resettlement of 10,000 Uyghurs and Turkic minorities who fled from China to the Middle East and South and Central Asia—starting in 2024.

The motion is non-binding, which means there isn’t a concrete commitment to resettle 10,000 refugees to Canada, but it sets into motion the process of planning how a resettlement project could be implemented.

The vote for the bill took place on Feb. 1 and was backed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as well as members of his cabinet. If implemented, it would safeguard thousands of Uyghurs against the risk of Chinese government persecution by bringing them to Canada over two years.

“Most importantly, this will help our mental health and at least give us a lot of relief because more than 10,000 Uyghurs will live like real humans without worrying about disappearing at any minute,” Turnisa Matsedik-Qira said, a member of the Uyghur Canadian diaspora.

The latest available census data according to Statistics Canada shows there were about 2,500 Uyghurs and Turkic language-speaking people in Canada as of 2021.

Mehmet Tohti, a prominent Uyghur-Canadian activist and co-founder of the World Uyghur Congress arrived in Canada in 1998, has been lobbying for the rights of Uyghurs for decades.

Tohti says 37 members of his family have been held hostage because of his activities. One of these hostage situations happened just last month, when Tohti says he got a phone call from Chinese government officials who told him his cousin has been taken into custody.

“I was informed…that two of my sisters ‘died,’ three of my brothers disappeared, and that would be the [same] consequence [for] my cousin,” he says.

Tohti was present in the House of Commons when the unanimous vote to resettle Uyghurs took place.

“It was a joyful moment,” Tohti says. “I was overwhelmed as I saw all Members of Parliament from [a broad] spectrum [of] political backgrounds stand up for a few minutes for the motion and offer support.”

The news was well-received by Uyghurs across the world. “Many Uyghurs outside and inside Canada have reached out to me and thanked Canada,” Tohti added.

In 2021, Canada became the second country — after the U.S. — to recognize the Chinese government’s acts against Uyghurs as genocide, and is the first to support a resettlement program for those who have escaped. Advocates like Tohti and Matsedik-Qira hope this move is mirrored by other Western democracies.