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Hidayatullah.com—Turnisa Matsedik-Qira has not seen her family for years and does not know where they are. He is a Uyghur immigrant who lives in Vancouver, Canada, and has not heard from his family in China since 2017.

Matsedik-Qira fears they are among the estimated one million Uyghurs and other Turkish minorities held in “re-education” camps set up by the Chinese communist regime in the Xinjiang region.

However, this month, Matsedik-Qira and other Uyghur migrants to Canada celebrated a unanimous House of Commons vote calling on the Canadian government to establish an admissions program for 10,000 Uyghurs and the Turkish minority seeking to flee China, from 2024.

The motion is non-binding, meaning there is not yet a concrete commitment to accept 10,000 Muhajireen into Canada, but it does initiate planning for how the project can be implemented.

The vote took place on February 1 and was supported by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and members of his cabinet. If implemented, the law would protect thousands of Uyghurs from the risk of persecution by the Chinese communist regime by transporting them to Canada for two years.

“Most importantly, it will help our mental health and at least bring us a lot of peace because over 10,000 Uyghurs will live like real humans without worrying about ever disappearing,” Matsedik-Qira said. Canadian New Media.

Darren Byler, a sociocultural anthropologist and professor at Simon Fraser University who studies the Uyghur genocide in China, said the motion was a major victory for the Uyghur nation and that China and those who support the communist regime have failed in their vicious efforts against the Uighurs. .

“By taking this step, Canada demonstrates the ineffectiveness of China’s Islamophobia and racism towards Muslims,” ​​Byler said.

“Canada’s leaders have shown they believe these people’s lives matter and must be protected. Those asylum seekers who are effectively stateless have a chance to find hope, a chance to start their lives over, to find a job and a place to build a future.

The latest census data available according to official government statistics shows that there are approximately 2,500 Uyghurs and Turkic speakers in Canada in 2021. – Qira.

Although he thinks his own family will not benefit from this motion because they cannot yet leave China, he remains enthusiastic about the project to welcome Uyghur immigrants.

Matsedik-Qira has spoken out on Uyghur rights since moving to Canada from East Turkestan in 2006. He is vice-president of the East Turkestan Association of Canada and has been protesting weekly for more than three years in front of the Chinese Consulate on Granville Street. , Vancouver, Canada.

The protest is similar to weekly demonstrations in downtown Toronto, where Canadian Uyghurs regularly go to raise awareness of the Chinese communist regime’s atrocities against the ethnic minority population.

Mehmet Tohti, a prominent Canadian Uyghur activist and co-founder of the World Uyghur Congress, arrived in Canada in 1998. He has fought for the rights of the Uyghur nation for decades.

Tohti said 37 members of his family were detained due to his activities. Such a detention situation occurred last month, when Tohti received a call from a Chinese regime official informing him that his cousin had been detained.

“I was told… that two of my sisters were ‘dead’, three of my brothers were missing, and that this would be the consequence [yang sama] [untuk] my cousin,” he said.

Tohti was present in the House of Commons during the unanimous vote to accept the Uyghur Muhajirin.

“It was a happy moment,” Tohti said. “I was very touched when I saw all the deputies of [berbagai] the political background rose for a few minutes to support the motion and give support.

The news was welcomed by Uyghurs around the world. “Many Uyghurs outside and inside Canada have contacted me and thanked Canada,” Tohti added. (Friends of Al-Aqsa | Canadian New Media)