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A well-placed source from one of the 15 signatory countries also confirmed to The Canadian Press that Canada led the effort to send the letter.

The United Nations estimates as many as one million Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities are being held in arbitrary detention.

“Canada is deeply concerned by credible reports of the mass detention, repression and surveillance of Uighurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang,” said Adam Austen, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Canada called on China to release all “arbitrarily” detained Muslims earlier this month at the UN where China’s human rights record was under review. Freeland also raised their plight with her Chinese counterpart at the UN General Assembly in September, said Austen.

“Canada also regularly raises concerns about Xinjiang with Chinese authorities both publicly and privately, bilaterally and multilaterally, and will continue to do so,” said Austen.

But Canada is now part of a shrinking group of countries that are speaking out against China. Of the 130 countries that commented on China’s human rights record at the UN review, only 15 mentioned Xinjiang, said Paul Evans, a China expert at the University of British Columbia.

China’s hardline response to the letter places it on “a collision course with Western values of freedom of religion, Western values on culture,” Evans said.

“This is the old Chinese hammer, and it does not look very good in the context of 2018. The absence of transparency on this, the disinformation that has been circulated by the Chinese side — whatever your political position on this one, it makes you grit your teeth,” said Evans.