Children's shoes are placed on the staircase outside Vancouver Art Gallery during a memorial event for the 215 children whose remains have been found buried at a former Kamloops residential school in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, May 29, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

On behalf of a group of countries at the United Nations Human Rights Council, China on Tuesday expressed concerns about serious human rights violations against indigenous people in Canada and called for a thorough and impartial investigation into all cases where crimes were committed, especially those against children.

"We are deeply concerned about serious human rights violations against the indigenous people in Canada. Historically, Canada robbed the indigenous people of their land, killed them, and eradicated their culture. The entire world was shocked to learn recent discovery of the remains of over 200 indigenous children at a Canadian boarding school. Between the 1830s and 1990s, over 150,000 indigenous children in Canada were reported to have been forcibly taken away from their parents and sent to boarding schools. They were subjected to malnutrition, and many fell victims to abuse and rape," Minister Jiang Duan from China's mission in Geneva said on Tuesday, referencing the recent news that more than 200 bodies of indigenous children were found in Canada. 

"At least 4,000 children died of disease, neglect, accidents or abuse while at school. We call for a thorough and impartial investigation into all cases where crimes were committed against the indigenous people, especially children, so as to bring those responsible to justice, and offer full remedy to victims," said Jiang. 

Apart from these crimes from the past, Jiang also said, "We are deeply concerned about discrimination against migrants in Canada and inhumane treatment of them in Canadian detention centers.'' From 2006 to 2014 alone, tens of thousands of migrants were arbitrarily detained by Canada. 

"We are also deeply concerned over the illegal killings of civilians by Canadian overseas military servicemen and systemic racial discrimination, xenophobia, and Islamophobia within Canada," Jiang said. "We urge Canada to immediately stop violations of human rights, and call on the Human Rights Council, the OHCHR and relevant Special Procedures, to keep following the human rights issues in Canada."

Canada has repeatedly used human rights as an instrument to promote its political agenda. On the same day, Canada made a joint statement on behalf of a group of countries focusing on China's Xinjiang region. 

Global Times