Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau says the government has not decided on if they will be sending government representatives to the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
Speaking to CBC Power & Politics on Sunday, Garneau said he does not have a personal stance despite mounting evidence that China is committing genocide against ethnic minorities.
“I don’t know what the situation is with respect to that,” he said.
“That will be a government position. I don’t have a position on that at this point.”
Calls for the 2022 Olympics to be moved or boycotted due to the mass-interment of China’s Uyghur minority has increased in recent months. Evidence of forced labour and mass-sexual violence recently lead the United States to declare the situation to be a genocide.
Garneau said the Canadian government has not decided if they will declare the treatment of Uyghurs to be genocide but said the Trudeau government is “very preoccupied” with the Uyghur issue.
Canadian Olympic Committee chief executive officer David Shoemaker said that Canada will not boycott the games, claiming that taking part in sporting events will somehow allow for more discussions on human rights in China.
Multiple politicians in Canada have recently argued for the Beijing Olympics to be moved or boycotted, including MPs from every major party.
In a recent letter signed by nearly 20 MPs and Quebec MNAs compared participating in the 2022 Beijing Olympics to participating in the 1936 Berlin Olympics under Nazi Germany.
On Monday, U.S. Congressman Mike Waltz (R-Florida) introduced a resolution urging the U.S. to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing if it is not moved.
“However, hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics Games in the PRC, where organized atrocities in [China] are ongoing; where the freedoms of Hong Kong‘s citizens are being trampled; where the fundamental right to worship is brutally persecuted; and in the wake of the ongoing global devastation from COVID-19; would be immoral, unethical and wrong,” the resolution states.
