Myanmar’s Nobel laureate Suu Kyi to miss Canada as she tours U.S.

OTTAWA – Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will bypass Canada as she kicks off a marathon 17-day visit to the United States.

Suu Kyi, known around the world as a symbol of peaceful resistance, is visiting the U.S. six months after Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird travelled to Myanmar to personally confer honorary Canadian citizenship on the Nobel laureate.

Suu Kyi arrived in Washington today for a tour that will include high-level meetings and visits with members of the Burmese diaspora in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Louisville, and Fort Wayne, Indiana.

A visit to Canada, however, is not on her itinerary.

The group known as Canadian Friends of Burma is disappointed Suu Kyi won’t be making it to Canada, which has conferred honorary citizenship on only four other people.

Baird’s office said Suu Kyi is “an amazing woman” with a busy schedule, and that another mutually convenient time will be found for her to come to Canada.