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Feb 22, 2021 10:37 PM -

Conservatives win all-party support of Uighur genocide vote in House of Commons

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A protester from the Uighur community living in Turkey, participates in a protest in Istanbul, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020. The opposition Conservatives are calling for the House of Commons to formally declare crimes against minority Muslims in China a genocide. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Emrah Gurel

Canada's House of Commons voted unanimously in favour Monday of a Conservative motion declaring as genocide the atrocities committed against ethnic Muslim Uighurs in China's Xinjiang province.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and all of his Liberal cabinet ministers abstained from the politically charged vote, which took place mainly over video, and against the backdrop of all-but-frozen relations between Beijing and Ottawa.

China has imprisoned two Canadian men, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, on what the government and dozens of its allies say are bogus charges in retaliation for the RCMP's December 2018 arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition warrant.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau registered a formal abstention on behalf of the government, drawing audible jeers over the video feed.

Dozens of Liberal MPs supported the Conservative motion, which passed by a 266-0 margin, amid the cabinet abstentions in the 338-seat Commons.

The vote is largely symbolic but represents growing political opposition to widespread reports of atrocities against Chinese minorities, accusations the China's communist leaders vociferously deny.

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