Media Statement
Ottawa, ON – Erin O’Toole, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Michelle Rempel, Shadow Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, issued a statement following a motion tabled in the House of Commons to revoke the honorary Canadian citizenship granted to Aung San Suu Kyi:
“Today, Canada’s Conservatives supported a motion to revoke the honorary Canadian citizenship granted to Aung San Suu Kyi. While this is a step in the right direction, Justin Trudeau must show real leadership on this issue and do more than make a symbolic gesture to help the lives of the Rohingya people.
“Unfortunately, when it comes to foreign policy, the Trudeau government is always playing catch up. The Liberals continuously fail to do the right thing, as in the case of the resettlement of the Yazidis, until they are pressured by the Opposition and the Canadian public.
“This happened yet again when the Prime Minister only acknowledged that the Rohingya people are victims of genocide after Conservatives stood last week and called on him to do so, by calling for the following:
“A Conservative government in 2019 will restore Canada’s foreign policy. Accordingly, we must do more than just look to the past with regret. We must take action today with resolve, and as such, we commit to:
- Support the recommendations found in the Report of the Independent International Fact-finding Mission on Myanmar, and specifically act to sanction individuals through the use of our Magnitsky legislation;
- Request that the Government of Iraq, and the United Nations if necessary, monitor and report on the progress, if any, being made regarding the return of ethnic and religious minorities to their places of origin in northern Iraq;
- Provide support for the investigators mandated through UN Security Council Resolution 2379 to support domestic efforts to hold ISIS accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide;
- Support family reunification for resettled Yazidis in Canada by indefinitely extending the one year window of opportunity for them to include immediate family members found to be living; define family members in the same way as those claiming asylum through exemptions to the safe third country agreement; and expedite the processing of these applications to take no longer than 30 days.”
