As Canada struggles to thaw its frosty relationship with China, academics and researchers are boycotting the world’s largest conference on migration, settlement and diversity to be held in Beijing.The group has launched an online petition urging that the 2020 International Metropolis migration conference be relocated to a country other than China, due to its poor human rights record: the repression of the Muslim Uighur and Tibetan minorities, threats to Hong Kong’s legal and judicial independence, and the detention of foreign nationals, including Canadian businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig.Canada currently has a travel advisory for China urging people to exercise a high degree of caution due to “the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws” as well as one for Hong Kong because of the ongoing massive anti-government protests. So far, more than 150 academic researchers and other migration experts have signed the petition.“If Canadian academics and policy-makers, as well as those from other countries, do not participate, it sends a signal that the regime cannot credibly claim to promote academic freedom or have inclusive policies around multiculturalism, immigration or diversity,” said Dalhousie University sociology professor Howard Ramos, who learned that Beijing would be the venue for next year’s conference in an email in late summer.“Countries that host events on immigration and refugees should be ones that respect academic freedom and the rights of minorities,” he said. “Canada is a leading immigration country and Canadian experts are among the top in the field. A conference on immigration and refugees without them misses cutting-edge policy and scholarship.”The conference is organized by the International Metropolis Network, made up of experts from around the world in migration and settlement policies as a platform where state officials, non-government organizations ...
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