Madina Canada’s Center for Non-Violence and Peace Studies, in partnership with the East Turkistan Association of Canada, is hosting an important awareness event highlighting the plight of Uyghurs amid China’s massive crackdown on religious expression.
China hosts about 15 million ethnic Uyghurs while an estimated 1.6 Million have fled China’s iron hold and are currently living in other countries. Primarily Muslims, Uyghurs maintain a distinct identity, diet (halal), & culture from their neighboring Chinese populations. Originally believed to be of Turkish origin; for generations they have coexisted and thrived in China.
More recently China has begun a crackdown on all form of religious expression and has detained as many as 1 million Uyghurs in so-called “reeducation centers” and forced them to undergo psychological indoctrination programs — like studying communist propaganda and giving thanks to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Chinese authorities have also reportedly used waterboarding, force feeding pork (not Halaal for Muslims), and other forms of torture on the ethnic minority.
Western governments, including Canada, the United States, and European Nations have recently brought the issue to the United Nations. However, due to the lack of transparency and media freedoms in China it is a difficult task to measure the true extent of the human devastation. All the while China claims that the “camps” are merely vocational and training centers intended to combat extremism, and that they’re teaching detainees useful and valuable skills.
In attendance on Sunday, March 24th will be Uyghur community leaders with first hand accounts of the devastating Chinese persecution. As well as GTHA community & religious leaders, and global media. Official invitations have also been dispatched to Honorable Members of Parliament, Honorable Members of Ontario’s Provincial Parliament, as well as Mississauga Municipal Council and the Honorable Mayor of Mississauga.