June 4, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ottawa, ON – The Hon. Andrew Scheer, Leader of Canada’s Conservatives and of the Official Opposition, issued the following statement on the 31st Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre:
“Today, Canadians join our Chinese friends and people around the world to honour the brave heroes of China’s pro-democracy movement, who were so brutally attacked on this day in 1989. Beginning in the early hours of June 4th, the Chinese Communist Party sent tanks into Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to suppress the peaceful demonstrations.
“We salute the courage of the hundreds of thousands of protesters across China who peacefully demanded democratic change and respect for Chinese human rights. In response to these demonstrations, the Chinese government ordered its military troops to march and open fire into the crowd of unarmed civilians, killing hundreds or possibly thousands of Chinese citizens, as the official number of dead is still unknown to this day.
“This violent crackdown by the Chinese Communist Party on its own people, who had been protesting peacefully, serves as a reminder of the importance of protecting democracy, individual liberties, and human dignity. The right to speak freely, as well as the right to free assembly and association, are inherent human rights and fundamental to any peaceful society.
“Thirty-one years later, many freedom-loving Chinese citizens are still persecuted for their views and for their efforts to commemorate the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The brutal repression of the recent protests in Hong Kong serves as a further reminder of the Chinese Communist Party’s unwillingness to respect human rights and international treaties like the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
“Conservatives will always speak out against injustices that take place around the world, and will continue to stand for freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law whenever these fundamental values are under attack.
“On behalf of Canada’s Conservatives, I join all Canadians of Chinese heritage and Chinese people around the world in remembering the innocent victims of the Communist Party’s Tiananmen Square massacre.”
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For more information, please contact:
Julie Pham
(613) 947-9932
Julie.Pham@parl.gc.ca
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