Trudeau appoints Bob Rae as special envoy to Myanmar

The move comes in response to growing public pressure to act in the face of what Canada and the United Nations have labelled ethnic cleansing of a long persecuted minority in Myanmar. As of Sunday, it's estimated 603,000 Rohingya, mostly from the troubled Rakhine state, have fled to shelter in neighbouring Bangladesh.

The former Ontario premier is expected to seek permission to visit Rakhine state, where Rohingya have long lived under what Trudeau called "brutal oppression."

Rae will advise the prime minister directly on the matter. According to a source familiar with the new role, Rae can play a sharper, more political role within Myanmar without jeopardizing diplomatic relationships on the ground with a government that is prickly about foreign interference in its affairs.

'Promote accountability for alleged crimes'

Myanmar authorities have made it difficult for foreign officials and journalists to visit Rakhine state, recently barring a UN fact-finding mission and only allowing diplomats (including Canada's) a look on a controversial, military-organized visit under their watchful eye earlier this month.

Rae is also expected "to promote accountability for alleged crimes perpetrated against vulnerable populations, including the Rohingya Muslim community, other religious and ethnic minorities, and women and girls," according to a written statement on the appointment.

Thousands of Canadians have signed a petition calling on the government to strip Myanmar's state counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi, of honourary Canadian citizenship she was given back in 2007.