China is accusing Canada of hypocrisy for criticizing Beijing's human-rights record, pointing to issues faced by Indigenous Peoples.
The blowback comes after Ottawa sanctioned eight Chinese officials it accuses of "grave human rights violations" against ethnic and religious minorities, and voiced concern about democracy in Hong Kong.
Ottawa issued a statement last month that cited reports of arbitrary and violent detainment of Uyghur people, as well as repression toward Tibetans and Falun Gong practitioners.
Global Affairs Canada also says it "deplores" that authorities are issuing international bounties for Hong Kong democracy activists and former lawmakers from the territory, including Canadians.
Beijing says those claims are baseless and it has sanctioned groups and activists in Canada who advocate for minorities in China, barring citizens from certain interactions with these activists.
Since then, China's state media has repeatedly called out Canada over its treatment of Indigenous Peoples, claiming Ottawa is being hypocritical.
"Canada is in no position to lecture others on human rights," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a Dec. 11 press conference, according to an official translation.
"Even today, Canada's Indigenous people still face systemic racial discrimination and unfair treatment. Instead of dealing with it, Canada chooses to smear and vilify other countries."
Mao added that "China has achieved enormous progress in human rights" that "no one without bias can deny."
A day later, she added that "the whole thing is an ugly, hypocritical political stunt done by some Canadian political figures under the pretext of human rights, to serve an unspeakable agenda and please the U.S."
China's embassy in Ottawa has been amplifying those messages on social media, including a political cartoon from a state-run media outlet CGTN showing a beaver with a tattered home telling a panda with an immaculate house that it has some cracks.
"Canada turns a blind eye to the systematic racism and unfair treatment that the Indigenous people face, yet fabricates accusations and smears China's human-rights progress," reads the cartoon caption. "Its constant political manipulation on human-rights issues is nothing more than a hypocritical farce of double standards."
In a recurring assessment of human-rights issues in Canada, the United Nations noted progress had been made in Indigenous rights and housing, while urging more be done.
The November 2023 assessment asked Canadian governments to stop human-rights abuses by Canadian mining corporations abroad and the overrepresentation of minorities in prison and child welfare. It also asked Canada to better respect Indigenous Peoples' rights to free, prior and informed consent.
The same body's assessment of China in January 2024 noted the country had improved its policies for women and children, but urged the government act to "ensure that all detainees are formally accounted for, granted access to their families and held in officially recognized places of detention."
It urged China "respect the rights to freedom of religion or belief, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and culture, including for Tibetans, Uyghurs, and other minorities" and said counterterrorism laws are not "in compliance with international human-rights law and standards," including in Hong Kong.
