Canadian MPs have voted to label Beijing's treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang as genocide, a move angrily slammed by China yesterday as a "malicious provocation." 

Rights groups believe at least one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities have been incarcerated in camps in the northwestern region, where China is also accused of forcibly sterilizing women and imposing forced labor.

The motion "Uighurs in China have been and are being subject to genocide" passed unanimously in the Canadian House of Commons, and ministers called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to officially label it as such.

The motion also called for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to be moved if the "genocide" continues.

The United States has already used the label, with the administration of former president Donald Trump slamming China in January for a "systematic attempt to destroy Uighurs."

Following a G7 meeting, Trudeau said Canada was consulting with its allies on the use of the term "genocide" for the treatment of Uighurs.

Beijing hit back yesterday, saying the motion had "disregarded facts and common sense" and "deliberately smeared China".

After initially denying the existence of the camps in Xinjiang, China later defended them as vocational training centers aimed at reducing the appeal of Islamic extremism.