Bangladesh silent on Canada offer to take Rohingya refugees

Bangladesh declined an offer by Canada to take in Rohingya refugees - including women who were raped - Canadian officials said, as the South Asian country pushes ahead with controversial plans to repatriate the displaced to neighbouring Myanmar.

Canada offered to take in a limited number of vulnerable refugees in May when Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland visited Bangladesh, according to Canadian officials who added the proposal still stands.

"Freeland said Canada was willing to discuss cases with Bangladesh," a Canadian official involved in the response to the Rohingya crisis, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the issue, told Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"[Bangladesh Prime Minister] Sheikh Hasina said officials would look into it," he said, adding discussions between the two government were ongoing, facilitated by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).