UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is opening the door to debate on whether to strip Myanmar's de-facto leader of her honorary Canadian citizenship.
The Trudeau government has faced pressure to revoke the honour given to Aung San Suu Kyi in 2007 — but had refused to state whether it was considering this measure.
Suu Kyi has been widely criticized for not speaking out against the atrocities being committed against Myanmar's Rohingya people.
When asked Wednesday about Suu Kyi, Trudeau said it's up to MPs to decide whether to take away the citizenship that they bestowed upon her.
"That's one of the questions that certainly Parliament can reflect on," Trudeau told reporters at the United Nations, where he attended this week's General Assembly.
"It was Parliament that granted her honorary citizenship, and that's a conversation that we certainly could have."
But he cautioned that the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar will not be fixed whether Canada revokes Suu Kyi's citizenship, or allows her to keep it.
"The hundreds of thousands, indeed millions of people, who are affected by this Rohingya crisis, by this genocide — whether or not Aung San Suu Kyi has Canadian citizenship or not, honorary or not, makes no difference in solving this crisis," Trudeau said.
The federal government, he added, is focused on solutions "to put an end" to the ongoing crisis. Ottawa has pledged $300 million over three years to support displaced people and other vulnerable populations.
Last week, the House of Commons unanimously adopted a motion to recognize the crimes against the Rohingya as genocide.
The motion also endorsed the findings of a UN fact-finding mission outlining how crimes against humanity have been committed by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya and other minorities.
The extensive report documented the systematic targeting of civilian Rohingya by the military, including mass gang rape, sexual slavery and the razing of hundreds of villages.
