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OTTAWA — Aung San Suu Kyi must publicly condemn the atrocities being committed against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, or else her rhetoric and global reputation as a champion of human rights will mean nothing, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“It is with profound surprise, disappointment and dismay that your fellow Canadians have witnessed your continuing silence in the face of the brutal oppression of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim people,” Trudeau wrote Monday in a letter to Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Myanmar.

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You can help guide the people of Myanmar to surmount these deep ethnic divisions

The powerful military in Myanmar is accused of burning down the homes of Rohingya Muslims, forcing more than 400,000 members of the persecuted minority to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, according to the latest UN figures.

Suu Kyi, an honorary Canadian citizen and a long-celebrated Nobel Peace Prize winner, has come in for withering international criticism for failing to stop — or even speak out against — the violence.