PRESS ADVISORY
Ottawa – Monday, January 12, 2026
In an Open Letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney on the eve of his trip to Beijing, the first official visit to China by a Canadian Prime Minister in eight years, a coalition of nine human rights organizations urges his government to take strong and effective action to address widespread human rights violations perpetrated by the Chinese government, including through transnational repression in Canada.
“The human rights situation in China has, in the assessment of many experts, markedly worsened in recent years,” said Sherap Therchin, Executive Director, Canada Tibet Committee. “At the same time. we have witnessed strategies on the part of Canada and the international community which have prioritized commercial interests and have too often appeased rather than challenged the Chinese government.”
“At a time when Prime Minister Carney has signaled a clear intention to reset Canada’s relationship with China, it is crucial that he put regard for human rights firmly at the centre of that relationship,” said Simone Hanchet, Director of Communications, Raoul Wallenberg Centre. “Failure to do so in the past has not only failed to address human rights concerns in China, it has also had disastrous consequences for individual Canadians.”
The letter highlights cases across a broad spectrum of human rights violations perpetuated by the Chinese government, including Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai, Uyghur-Canadian Huseyin Celil, pro-democracy activist Wang Bingzhang, and at least ten Falun Gong practitioners, who all have deep family ties to Canada and remain unjustly imprisoned in China. It also points to continuing persecution of ethnic and religious groups including Tibetans, Uyghurs, Falun Gong practitioners and Christians.
The letter notes that China continues to devote considerable resources to influence and harassment operations in Canada, the impact of which has been felt directly by many of the groups making up the Coalition. The Coalition implores the Prime Minister to make it clear that Chinese diplomats in Canada overseeing or involved in such illegal activities will be expelled.
The letter underscores that to date Canada’s approaches to addressing human rights concerns in China have generally appeared to be ad hoc and uncoordinated.
“What is missing is a comprehensive strategy that ensures human rights feature prominently across the full expanse of Canada’s relationship with China,” said Cheuk Kwan, co-chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China. “It’s time to put human rights at the forefront of that relationship. It is in fact the only principled, but also pragmatic, path forward.”
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Media contact: Sherap Therchin, 613-483-5107
Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China
