Members of Alberta's Uyghur community listen during a press conference in Calgary on Sunday, February 2, 2020. There is growing concern about the continued internment of Chinese Uyghur in China especially as the coronavirus spreads. Gavin Young/Postmedia

The coronavirus poses a worrisome threat to members of a Muslim minority being detained in China, a Calgary conference heard Sunday.

Medical experts, human rights advocates, political leaders and family members of detainees gathered together to call on the international community to help Chinese Uyghurs, many of whom are held in “re-education” centres in the western province of Xinjiang.

“Viruses do not discriminate. They are not bound by borders or walls such as the walls of these camps,” said conference panelist and family physician Dr. Mindy Gautama.

“The risk of malnourished people living in close proximity creates not only an enhanced risk of viral transmission but, of course, a likely increased death rate in people whose bodies are already under stress.”

Held at the Best Western Plus Port O’Call in northeast Calgary, the conference saw experts gather along with members of Edmonton’s Uyghur community to raise awareness and call for action to ensure the safety of interned Uyghurs.

Speakers, including Canadian Senator Marilou McPhedran and Uyghur Canadian Babur Ilchi, explained how the spread of coronavirus in these centres could result in hundreds of thousands of people suffering or dying and further impacting the global community.

Canadian Senator Marilou McPhedran speaks at a Humanity Auxilium press conference in Calgary on Sunday, February 2, 2020. The organization is concerned about the continued internment of Chinese Uyghur in China especially as the coronavirus spreads. Gavin Young/Postmedia

In China, Uyghurs can be held in “re-education” centres where they are forbidden from practising Islam and are forced to speak and write Chinese.

The majority of Uyghurs are Muslim, have a distinct language and culture from China’s main ethnic group and live in the autonomous Xinjiang region in the country’s northwest. Foreign policy experts say the Chinese government views the Uyghurs as a threat to unified government support .

Gautama, and others at the conference, said the World Health Organization (WHO) should be allowed access into the camps to assess the health and safety of prisoners and there should be a longer-range plan of closing the camps and reuniting families.

The fear from many speakers is that coronavirus has already spread to the camps. However, they said confirming whether that’s true is virtually impossible as there’s little to no communication with people inside the centres.

On Thursday, the WHO declared coronavirus a global health emergency as the death toll in China has climbed to at least 303 and more than 14,500 cases have been confirmed globally, surpassing the number of cases during the 2002 to 2003 SARS outbreak. There are four confirmed cases in Canada, none of which are in Alberta where public health officials have stressed that risk from the virus remains low.

Ilchi, who was born in East Turkestan and moved to Canada at a young age, said his grandfather was imprisoned in one of the centres and died last year. He only became aware of his death through a Facebook post but couldn’t otherwise contact his family overseas to understand what happened.

Babur Ilchi speaks at press conference in Calgary on Sunday, February 2, 2020. Ilchi has Chinese Uyghur family members who are interned in China and he fears for their safety. Gavin Young/Postmedia

“I not only speak for myself but I speak for every Uyghur in the diaspora. We have been under a tremendous amount of stress and (have had) sleepless nights wondering about our family because we are unable to talk to them at all,” he said.

“When this situation happens and we don’t even know if our family is alive, it places all of us under a tremendous amount of mental stress.”

He said one of the most important actions Canadians can take is to raise awareness, learn about what is happening to Uyghurs in China and educate friends and family on the issue. Ilchi also said people should connect with their public representatives to urge action on the issue. Some human rights experts have put the number of detained Uyghurs at one million, although other estimates say the number could be much higher.

Uyghur Canadian Mehliya Cetinkaya travelled from Edmonton to attend the weekend conference. She, too, said she hasn’t been able to speak with her family and fears the worst.

“We don’t know how to cope. We’ve never experienced anything like this before,” said Cetinkaya.

“We have a culture where we are all brave and happy and one with one another, but through this, we’ve all just been collapsing and unable to bear all of this. Once we have more light and more attention on this, we will feel better.”

McPhedran said she will be making a speech to the Senate next week touching on the conversations had during the Sunday conference.

alsmith@postmedia.com

Twitter: @alanna_smithh