Trudeau announces diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that Canada will launch a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.

No federal government officials will attend the games. Canadian athletes will still be allowed to compete.

The U.S., U.K. and Australia already haveannounced they won't sendofficial delegations to the games a collectiveattempt to send a message to China that its human rights abuses have not gone unnoticed.

Speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill, Trudeau said the government is "extremely concerned" by the "repeatedhuman rights violations carried out by the Chinese government." He said Canada will show its displeasure with the communist regime by withholding the delegates that normally would attend high-profileevents like the opening and closing ceremonies.

Asked if he was anticipating any blowback from Beijing for snubbing China as it prepares to host the world, Trudeau said "this should not come as a surprise" to the regime.

"For months, we have been coordinating and discussing the issue with our allies," he said.

WATCH:Trudeau announces diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympic Games

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympic Games

3 years ago

Duration 0:55

Trudeau tells a press conference in Ottawa that Canada will join other countries in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games in response to China's human rights violations against the Uyghur community.

MPs, senators and civil societygroups have been pushingthe Trudeau governmentto hold China accountable for its crackdown on democratic rights in Hong Kong and the ongoing abuse of the Uyghur Muslim minority.

Earlier this year, the House of Commons passed a motion branding the violence directed at religious minorities in China's Xinjiang province as "genocide." That motion followed a Commons subcommittee report that found China persecutesits Muslim minority through mass detention in concentration camps, forced labour, state surveillance and population control measures policies the report said are designed to "eradicate Uyghur culture and religion."

In the motion, MPs also calledon the federal government to use its influence to pressure the International Olympic Committee to move the games out of China "if the Chinese government continues this genocide."

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole said Wednesday his party's push to relocate the games got "no traction with Mr. Trudeau" and a diplomatic boycott is the next best thing.

While he said he's horrified by reports of violence in Xinjiang, O'Toole said a full boycott would be unfair to Canada's Olympic and Paralympic athletes who have trained so hardfor the world's premier sporting event.

WATCH:Conservative leader calls on prime minister to boycott Beijing Olympics

Conservative leader calls on prime minister to boycott Beijing Olympics

3 years ago

Duration 1:14

Conservative Party Leader Erin O'Toole called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to join other countries in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics in 2022.

Trudeau agreed thatOlympic athletesshouldn't pay a price for China's abuses. "They need to have one thing in mind and that's representing the country to the best oftheir ability and winning a gold medal for Canada," he said.

In a media statement, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) said it "understands and respects" the government's decision and applaudsthe effort to "draw an important distinction between the participation of athletes and the participation of government officials."

The last time Canada pursued a full boycott of the Olympics was in 1980, when the federal governmentblocked athletes from participating in the summer games in Moscow to protest the Soviet Union's military presence in Afghanistan.

Citing that 1980 move, the COC said "history has shown that athlete boycotts only hurt athletes without creating meaningful change." The COCsaidthe games will "create an important platform to draw attention" to ongoing issues in China.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mlanie Joly said the decision to pull diplomats and keep Minister of SportPascaleSt-Onge and others at home was motivated by reports of abuse coming out of Xinjiang, anoil-rich territory in the country's northwest.

"Clearly it is important for us to send a strong signal to China because we're extremely concerned about allegations about theUyghurs," Joly said.

Jolysaid she has raised the possibility of aboycott with allies in nearlyevery meeting she's had since being named foreign minister in October. Shesaid she willtravel to a G7 meeting in the U.K. this weekend topress other holdouts, such as France and Germany, to join the boycott.

"Canada has been playing a leadership role on this this is in line with our foreignpolicy. Canada always stands up on questions of human rights," she said.

Conservative MP Michael Chong, the party'sforeign affairs critic, said Trudeau's China policy has been characterized by "incoherence and contradiction." He said China'sabuses demanda strongerresponseand a diplomatic boycott doesn't go far enough.

"We've called on the government to take many more measures to counter the threats that China is presenting to our values and our interests. It's why we've been calling for years now to ban Huawei," Chong said.

While other security partners have long blocked Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from building out their 5G networks, Canada has been silent on the issue.

In the absence of a definitive decision by the Liberal government, most of the country's wireless providers have opted already to work with Sweden-based Ericsson.

Huawei's founder has close ties to China's communist leadership and intelligence partners have long warned that the company's technology could be used to spy on Canadians.

WATCH: IOC memberDick Pound discusses Canada's diplomatic boycott on CBC's Power & Politics

Canada announces diplomatic boycott of Olympics but athletes will still compete

3 years ago

Duration 4:35

Dick Pound, a member of the International Olympic Committee, joins Power & Politics to talk about Canada's announcement that it will be joining a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

"We're unilaterally alone among our intelligence allies in not making a decision to restrict or ban Huawei," Chong said. "It'spart of a broader pattern on the part of this governmentthat has isolated Canada on the international stage."

Canada-Chinese relations soured after Chinadetained two Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in an apparent act ofretribution for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou's2018 arrest on U.S.fraud charges. In September, the two men were freed by China'sregimeafter the legal dispute involving Meng was partlyresolved by U.S. prosecutors.

The western world's relationship with China has deteriorated over the past two years. China has been accused of covering up early COVID-19 outbreaks and of pushing World Health Organization (WHO)officialsto praise its pandemic response rather than scrutinize its actions.