After former Canadian Assistant Deputy Minister Alan Freeman spoke out about the need for Canada to boycott the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing earlier this year, other members of the government in both Canada and the United States have joined him in urging for the boycott. The boycott talks stem from the human rights violations that have been occurring in China.
In Canada, Conservative leader Erin O’Toole has asked that the government push for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to find a new host for the games.
“I think Canadians would agree that it would violate fundamental ethical principles to participate in an Olympic Games hosted by a country that is committing a genocide against part of its population,”
In Canada over 180 humans rights groups have called on the nation to boycott the Games. A letter featuring the signatures of over a dozen federal lawmakers, thirteen Members of Parliament, and Olympic gold medalist Jean-Luc Brassard, asking for the relocation of the games.
On Monday the Canadian House of Commons held a note to deem the Chinese treatment of the Uyghur minority group as a genocide under the definition established by the United Nations. The vote passed 266-0. The House of Commons also formally asked the IOC to change the venue for the 2022 Games.
While some Canadians have called for change without proposing specific solutions, Green Party leader Annamie Paul and New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh suggested that either Canada or both Canada and the U.S. host the Olympic Games in 2022.
In the United States, John Katko, a Congressman and member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, wrote newly elected president Joe Biden urging him to consider a boycott of the Games.
“I write you to urge the boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. The United States must stand up and defend its commitment to human rights and the rule of law that this country was founded upon and act immediately to curb ‘the systematic attempt to destroy Uyghurs by the Chinese partystate.’ The actions taken by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are antithetical to the values of both the United States and its allies around the world. Participation in an Olympics held in a country that is openly committing genocide not only undermines those shared values but casts a shadow on the promise for all those who seek free and just societies.”
Katko’s full letter to the president was shared on the House Homeland GOP’s social media.
The U.S. cannot in good faith participate in Olympic Games in a country that is actively engaged in genocide.
@RepJohnKatko is calling for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
↓ ↓ ↓ pic.twitter.com/wuRhs8jMX0
— House Homeland GOP (@HomelandGOP) February 22, 2021
It is a disgrace for the Olympic Games be held in a country that engage in genocide!
#NeverAgain #UyghurGenocide in #China
This would just hurt the athletes who put in all this work for it.
An Olympic boycott won’t change/do anything to China.
This; this right here. The correct thing to do is to pressure the IOC who really shouldn’t be awarding games (and collecting mammoth tv revenues) to countries with atrocious human rights records. Yes I know no-true-scotsman-everyone-has-done-terrible-things but maybe don’t pick countries where the infrastructure is likely to be built with slave labour, a significant portion of the population is scared of a genocide or a nontrivial portion of the attendees have to fear arrest if they leave the village.
Just a thought.
I agree .. so the athletes get to live their dream in Beijing but then what happens after the Olympics (or even during the Olympics) if the genocide continues ..
Not to mention China’s continued aggression and incursions in the South China Sea could expedite or escalate things against China
Firstly it was the US that swooped up Uighurs in Afghanistan & rendited them off to centres in Poland Egypt & Syria that had more advanced interrogation methods. It is unknown who or how many disappeared but some ended up at Guantanomo. There they stayed under later Trump Attorney General Bill Barr approved methods (Continual noise & no sleep plus sub drownings were ok because Bill is a bagpipe player ).
China wanted them back but US finally offloaded them in2008 onto Palau & other co- erced places. There they spread out to form cells & later 1000s turned up for Isis & are currently in Idlib .Quietly Trump admin delisted them as terrorists . I have no doubt they… Read more »
It’s time we worry less about sports and making us feel happy while ignoring a genocide and passively supporting it by allowing greedy corporations to operate in China, Disney, NBA, google, etc.
I stand with Canada 🇨🇦 and not the PPC
Why the downvotes ? People supporting a genocide ? Unbelievable and scary….
Can they transfer the Games to Florida again? Lol
I think it’d probably take more than 2 years to build the Winter Games infrastructure in Florida, lol.
Still more likely than hosting 2020ne in Florida this summer
Yeah Florida is definitely not happening this summer.
But, if they tried it they could probably pull it off.
2022 Winter? Not a chance.
Sure, no problem! Let the underpaid Olympic athletes who train all their lives not compete so politicians can get cheap political capital. Right after Lebron and the NBA stop playing in China we should get right on that!
I mean sure, but the U.S until recently backed Saudi Arabia and their genocide of Yemen, and it’s not like we’re not known for drone striking thousands and thousands civilians in the Middle East in recent years.
Or housing migrant children in cages
The US and allies only started caring about Uighur because of the pandemic. The issue is essentially being used as a geopolitical tool in order to get revenge.
I naively wonder why the athletes are the ones who have to make the sacrifice?
Was vaguely aware of 1980s boycott.
Presuming all allegations are true, I’m not understanding how this would move the CCP to stop committing the abuse & genocide.
Not convinced it was an effectual move then, or now.
1980 and 1984 caused much distress for certain athletes, both those who went and those who didn’t.
I have an advantage from having visited all Central Asian republics under Communist control . Should unicorn dreams happen & this region becomes independant, they will follow the exact path as neighbours Turkmenistan , Kazakstan, Tadjiksan , Uzbekistan , Krygyzstan & to a slightly less degree Mongolia. From the Khans to the Czar to the Soviets To Czarist – Communistic Khanates. It is not going to become Sweden.
There are plenty of ways to punish China for its many human rights abuses… and I am here for all of them. But boycotting the Olympics is not one of them.
I completely agree. It’s punishing the hardworking athletes who have worked even harder than ever due to COVID pandemic. Government should not decide fate of athletes.