Rights groups are renewing calls for Ottawa to support Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai after the federal government paused a motion to grant him honorary Canadian citizenship last week.
The Toronto Association for Democracy in China and the Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China issued a joint press release on June 18, asking Ottawa to urge the release of Lai, who has been in a Hong Kong prison for more than four years, and restart work toward granting him honorary citizenship.
A motion to grant Lai honorary Canadian citizenship was halted on June 11 when Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon told Liberal MP Judy Sgro she could not present a unanimous-consent motion on the issue. The motion had cross-party support and was intended to be introduced ahead of the G7 leaders’ summit in Kananaskis, Alta., to draw international attention to Lai’s case.
“It is only right—and humane—for the Canadian government to demand that Hong Kong release Jimmy Lai,” said Cheuk Kwan, co-chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China. “We were disappointed that the unanimous consent motion to do so was never tabled at the House of Commons last week. It’s time to welcome him ‘home’ if he so wishes.”
Kwan highlighted Lai’s connections to Canada, including both family and financial ties.
Lai, 77, is the founder of Apple Daily, a Hong Kong newspaper that was shut down in 2021. He has been a vocal critic of the Chinese communist regime and a long-time supporter of the pro-democracy movement.
He was arrested in December 2020 under the Beijing-imposed national security law for alleged national security offences. He has also been subjected to prolonged solitary confinement—a practice the United Nations considers a form of torture.
Lai was designated as a prisoner of conscience last year by Amnesty International.
Alex Neve, chair of the Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China, said the blocking of the motion was a missed opportunity to highlight the importance of human rights at the G7 summit.
“The G7 met at a time of considerable global economic turmoil and conflict, and their agenda was packed,” Neve said in the press release.
“All the more reason that Prime Minister Carney should have reminded his counterparts that they could not overlook the importance of taking up Jimmy Lai’s case, to underscore that no matter the challenges we face in the world, human rights must come first.”
Following the decision to put the motion on hold, the office of the Government House Leader told The Epoch Times it has “no comment with regards to this specific case,” but said it does not believe “that serious and substantive foreign policy issues should be decided without any debate.”
A unanimous-consent motion, the type MP Sgro intended to present, allows for a motion to be adopted without debate as long as no member objects.
Sgro said she was “shocked” after being told she could not present the motion, and that the House leader was “clearly very frustrated” about having to deliver the message, as he was aware of the work she had put into the initiative.
The Prime Minister’s Office has not responded to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.
Simone Hanchet, spokesperson for the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, which is among the organizations leading the initiative in support of Lai, told The Epoch Times that efforts to present the motion are ongoing.
“The initiative for honorary citizenship for Jimmy Lai–spearheaded by parliamentarians–continues to enjoy all-party support, with MPs working together to try to find a way to move it forward,” she said.
