NBA star and human rights activist Enes Kanter Freedom says he is frustrated with what he calls a dull response from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to his calls for more action to help Uyghur Muslims in China.
The basketball player, who is currently a free agent after being eliminated by the Houston Rockets earlier this year, said he wrote to Trudeau last month to encourage the Liberal government to take a tougher line with China at some point. in which the country is allegedly committing genocide against a Turkish minority in Xinjiang province.
He said the only thing he received in response was a form letter from someone in the correspondence unit and that he feels rejected.
In an interview with CBC News, Kanter Freedom said he does not believe his letter got into Trudeau’s hands.
“The response I received did not address any of the specific points I raised. I know that if I had read it myself, I would have gotten a more thoughtful response,” he said.
“He cares. I think he’s concerned about human rights not just in Canada but around the world. If he has a heart, there’s no way he won’t answer me.”
Kanter Freedom said it has partnered with senior U.S. Congress leaders and senior European Union officials in its fight against China’s human rights abuses, but so far there has been no solid government response. Canadian.
He said the decision by Trudeau and his cabinet ministers to abstain in a House of Commons motion last year that officially declared horrors in China as genocide was another disappointment.
“Canada represents freedom, democracy and human rights, and yet it is not taking any real action against China. There is genocide and the whole world knows it, just condemning it is not enough.” said Kanter Freedom.
“Justin Trudeau, put yourself in the shoes of these people. If your wife were in a concentration camp, do you really think the status quo is enough? It’s really unacceptable,” he said.
Diplomatic boycott will not save lives: Enes Kanter
Kanter’s release was celebrated by Republican leaders in Washington, DC last month, and some credited their defense of passing a new U.S. law that effectively bans imports from Xinjiang, where the Uyghur slave labor is widespread.
This U.S. law, which Kanter Freedom has championed with the support of Democrats and Republicans alike, bans imports from Xinjiang unless people or businesses can prove that the goods or materials are produced without slave labor. U.S. President Joe Biden signed the bill in December.
In his June 15 letter to Trudeau, Kanter Freedom urged the Canadian government to take similar action against imports from Xinjiang.
He said Canada and the United States are economic powers and, if they move in a key step to ban products from the troubled region, could force big companies, such as Nike, which previously had part of its supply chain in Xinjiang, to rethink doing business with China. .
Kanter Freedom, on the left, is attending a press conference with Senator Leo Housakos, on the right, in June calling on the Canadian government to ban imports of forced labor into China’s Xinjiang region. (Fred Chartrand / Canadian Press)
At the very least, Kanter Freedom said, Trudeau must do something important to indicate that Canada will not tolerate China’s abuses, which allegedly include torture, rape, forced sterilization and abortions, state surveillance and internment of Muslim minorities in the camps of concentration of the country. northwestern province.
“It’s a genocide. That’s how I would explain it. The situation is very bad and a diplomatic boycott, this will not save lives,” Enes Kanter said, adding that it is the money that matters most to China.
He urged Trudeau to adopt Senate Sen. Leo Housakos ’bill as government policy, which goes a step beyond what was passed by Congress south of the border.
If adopted, the S-204 would prohibit the importation of all goods manufactured or produced in whole or in part into the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
Kanter Freedom said the bill would prevent Canada from “unwittingly funding the forced labor of Uighurs and human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party.”
The U.S. State Department has said Chinese authorities use threats of physical violence, “forced drug use,” physical and sexual abuse, and torture to force predominantly Muslim detainees to work in garment-producing factories. footwear, carpets, yarn, food products, holiday decorations, etc. building materials, solar energy equipment, consumer electronics, bedding, cleaning supplies, face masks, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and other products.
According to U.S. estimates, more than a million Muslims, including Uighurs, Hui, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Uzbeks, have been imprisoned in state-run internment camps where they work. forced is a central tactic used for repression.
This photo taken on June 4, 2019 shows the Chinese flag behind razor wire in an apartment complex in Yangisar, south of Kashgar, in the western region of Xinjiang. – It is difficult to imagine a recurrence of the Urumqi riots that left nearly 200 dead a decade ago in present-day Xinjiang, a Chinese region whose Uyghur minority is lined with surveillance and mass arrests. (Greg Baker / AFP via Getty Images)
Most private MP bills, tabled by individuals and not by the government, do not receive ministerial support, parliamentary time, or go through all the parliamentary stages necessary to become law.
With Trudeau’s support, S-204 would have a chance to fight, Kanter Freedom said.
In response to his call to action, a manager of the prime minister’s correspondence branch told Kanter Freedom in a June 25 letter that the government is “deeply concerned about the horrific reports of human rights violations” in China and that it is “advancing measures to address the risk of forced labor in any country.”
Kanter Freedom said the answer, which was three paragraphs long, reads like a copy-and-paste job: pre-written lines that are used to answer general questions about China.
The prime minister’s office forwarded questions about Kanter Freedom’s letter to Foreign Minister Melanie Joly.
Forced labor bill
In a statement, a spokesman for Joly said the government “thanks Mr Kanter Freedom for his work and advocacy on this issue”.
“Foreign Secretary Rob Oliphant’s parliamentary secretary met with Mr. Kanter Freedom in Ottawa on June 6, 2022 to discuss human rights in Xinjiang. PS Oliphant reiterated that the government of Canada takes a lot seriously any accusation of genocide and we continue to be deeply disturbed by reports of human rights violations in Xinjiang, including the use of arbitrary detention, political re-education, forced labor, torture and forced sterilization. “
The spokesman said the government has already imposed sanctions on four Chinese officials and an entity for their involvement “in serious and systematic human rights violations in Xinjiang” and has repeatedly called on the Chinese government to give UN officials ” free and meaningful access to Xinjiang “. . “
While the government has been fresh with the Xinjiang import ban proposed by Kanter Freedom and Housakos, Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan has said the government is concerned about forced labor around the world and who is willing to take steps to address it.
Last month, O’Regan said he would support an Independent Que bill. Senator Julie Miville-Dechene, who is forcing Canadian companies to confirm that none of their products or components are manufactured in clandestine workshops that employ children or for people forced to work overtime for free or for a negligible wage.
Kanter Freedom said he has become a hawk of China because he is sick of what has happened to his fellow Muslims in that country.
He said his defense is likely to be to blame for his stalled career in basketball. It was cut short after its sharp criticism sparked controversy in China, which is home to tens of millions of NBA fans, a money cow for the league and its owners.
“I love the game and I’m not thinking about retirement, but I won’t rest knowing that on the other side of the ocean, millions of people are losing their loved ones. That’s bigger than me, bigger than the NBA or basketball. and bigger than my next check, “he said.