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“I don’t think our politicians should attend the PRC 70th Anniversary at this moment while PRC retains our Canadians with no reason for over 9 months,” Mabel Tung, chair of the Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement, said in an email.

Tung also said the undermining of human rights — she cited the treatment of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong and the persecution of Uyghur Muslims — were also reasons to stay away from China national day events.

“Canada should, with other leaders of the world, stand up against ever-encroaching authoritarianism from the PRC,” she wrote.

Stephanie Carvin, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University, tweeted that it was “extremely odd” that Sajjan would attend an event celebrating the founding of the Chinese Communist Party “at a time (when) China is holding two Canadians hostage in retaliation for a perceived slight against a state-championed company.” She was referring to the arrest last December of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

Photo by cbavancouver.com

But Todd Lane, a spokesman for Sajjan, said Monday that Sajjan attended the event in his capacity as a candidate for the Vancouver South riding and didn’t stay long.

“During the event, Mr. Sajjan delivered brief remarks where he spoke of the long-standing focus of the organization on promoting diversity and their efforts to grant Chinese-Canadians the right to vote. Mr. Sajjan took the opportunity to state that the Chinese government needed to address the consular cases of the two arbitrarily detained Canadians. Mr. Sajjan believes in standing up for the rights of Canadians and has done so on numerous occasions. Shortly following the remarks, Mr. Sajjan departed. … Mr. Sajjan did not stay for dinner.”