A new survey shows that an overwhelming majority of Canadians are in favour of the House of Commons’ decision to declare China’s treatment of the Uyghur peoples amounts to genocide.
According to the Nanos Research poll, which was commissioned by The Globe and Mail, a whopping 83% of people support or somewhat support the initiative.
The survey also reveals that most Canadians looked unkindly on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s and his cabinet’s decision to abstain from the vote. In total, 59% of respondents said that they disapproved of the abstention.
On February 22, the House of Commons voted to declare China’s treatment of the Uyghurs as a genocide.
The motion, which was introduced by Conservative MPs Michael Chong and Garnett Genuis, received unanimous support from all parties except for the Liberal cabinet.
“It’s pretty clear that Canadians see this as genocide and the polls suggest that they are ready for action and a hardline when it comes to responding to the government of China,” Nik Nanos told the Globe and Mail.
“It looks like Canadians are hitting a boiling point on this where they just want to see action and there is less of an attitude to ameliorate China.”
With regards to how Canadians believe Ottawa should handle China, 62% of people polled indicated that they would support joining the United States in levelling economic sanctions against Chinese officials.
Following a similar genocide declaration across the border, the US has since introduced Magnitsky-style sanctions on a number of high-ranking Chinese officials suspected to be involved in the human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region.
