On September 28, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Mckay harshly criticized China over human rights and democracy. As reported by the BBC, this was one of the bluntest comments that the Conservative party made since it won a federal election in January. According to Reuters, when asked what Canada would do about the aid it gives to China to develop democratic institutions, MacKay replied: "That is something we are reexamining but I would suggest that there is still a contribution Canada can make on that front."

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs raps China over human rights and democracy (AFP/By: SHAH MARAI)

On September 26, at a rally to expose the Chinese Communist regime's atrocities of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners, Chairman of Organ Donation Committee of the Kidney Foundation for Eastern Ontario Reuven Bulka called on the public not wait to take action to help stop these atrocities. During the rally, eight Canadian Members of Parliament attended the rally and spoke out. They called on the Canadian government and people to act together to end this crime.

Shortly after an independent investigative report was published by former Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas, the Canadian government publicly stated that it will investigate the organ harvesting case. On July 13, chairman of the Conservative caucus Mr. Jaffer suggested that the Canadian government should cooperate with other countries, including the U.S. and European countries, who are willing to stop this crime, to form an international union to exert pressure on the CCP, urging it to open the gates so that people can learn the truth. Mr. Jaffer said that not only should the Canadian government take action, but we also should cooperate with other governments to solve this issue by the law, and bring it to the relevant international court.

On September 26, supporters of Falun Gong and eight members of Parliament (MP) rallied at Canada's Parliament Hill to call on the Canadian government and public to take actions to stop the Chinese Communist regime's atrocities of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. Former Secretary of State for Asian Pacific and senior MP David Kilgour gave a speech at the rally. A reporter interviewed Mr. Kilgour afterward.

David Kilgour at a rally held on Parliament Hill on September 26

Reporter: You recently have visited many countries including the U.S., several European countries, and Australia, as well as the UN. Can you tell us your experiences on this trip?

Kilgour: My trip was to ...Kestle...in Australia, New Zealand and Europe, the Nordic countries. We are going to Congress in the United States on Friday. So we have been received everywhere well. I guess the most encouraging thing would be that at the European Union summit with China, the matter of organ harvesting was raised by the foreign minister of the host country Finland with the foreign minister of China.

And on very authority he told them that Europeans were very concerned about what is being alleged. The Europeans want an independent investigation. And I didn't hear the response of the foreign minister of China but at least 530 million Europeans through their summit have raised this issue with the government of China and they can't ignore that. They might be able to ignore Canada but they can't ignore hundreds of millions of Europeans.

Similarly at the United Nations summit last week in Geneva, I guess you heard I got 2 minutes to give a little summary of our report. And evidently the delegation from China took 45 minutes to try to ask for more time. And when they did get 3 minutes they had nothing to say. I am sure you can get it, the record is available.

The pressure is building and if enough people send enough emails and have enough rallies like this today, the government of China will decide I hope very soon that it is going to lose and its games are going to lose.

And the world is going to turn its back on the Olympic games and this crime against humanity of all ...perhaps... crimes against humanity is something the world will not stand for in the 21st century. And all the people here today and all the people who have been speaking about this on all the continents, I suppose.

Reporter: What is your next plan?

Kilgour: We are going to Asia, and I hope too, will eventually prevail. The people in Beijing will realize that the game is up, that they have lost, and they are going to have to stop this hideous crime against humanity, perhaps all crimes against humanity.

We are going to Congress this Friday in the United States in Washington. We are going to talk about our report there and what we have been doing, what we have been learning, and then we are hoping to go to a number of countries in Asia.

We are going to Washington Friday to testify for a committee, a subcommittee in congress, a committee on human rights. We are going to talk about our report and what we have seen and heard and learned traveling around the world. We are going to, I will be mentioning as I mentioned earlier this anecdote in Boston this summer, when a surgeon from Tianjin basically admitted to a doctor from Germany that the organs were coming from Falun Gong practitioners. He did that by saying when asked where the organs were coming from, he said go ask the Falun Gong practitioners demonstrating outside this hotel. That is about as clear an admission by a surgeon in China as to where he is getting the organs, the livers in this case, that it is ever going to happen.

Reporter: You know recently lawyer Gao Zhisheng has been arrested and he is not even released right now, and you know the foreign media agency news is blocked by the CCP regime. Do you have any comments?

Kilgour: Thank for raising the issue of Gao Zhisheng and he is a Nelson Mandela like figure. He is a Mahatma Gandhi like figure. He is the conscience of the legal profession in China. I am a lawyer. And that they would lock him up. He is the one that invited Matas and I to go to China.

And if they can lock up Gao Zhisheng and I gather they have policemen in his home who won't let his wife and children go outside the home. What kind of universe does the government of China think they are living in?

Do they think that people in Canada or America or Europe or Asia will stand for treating perhaps their most noble member of the legal profession. Treating him like a dog?

There are rumors that he is being tortured, and if that is the case then I would think that the prospects for China's Olympic games are getting less and less clear. The world will not stand for treating Falun Gong the way they are being treated and they won't stand for the way they are treating Mr. Gao and they had better release him unharmed quickly, or a lot of us are going to say the last place on earth we will be in the summer of 2008 is in Beijing for the Olympic games.

Reporter: Do you think that the government around the world is going to pay attention to this point?

Kilgour: I think they are. I think we have had a very encouraging response in Australia, New Zealand, in Belgium, in Sweden, in Finland, in France. It has been quite encouraging. I think we are getting a good response. Now the question is we have to turn that into action and governments the world over have to start insisting that something be done immediately, mainly that the horrible practice stops immediately.

Reporter: Do you think that the Canadian government will take some action?

Kilgour: I am very sorry that there wasn't somebody from the Conservative caucus here today, because in fact the Conservative government and members of parliament of the Conservative party have been very encouraging throughout on this.

And I believe that Mr. Harper's government has asked for an investigation to be done. You don't have to investigate very far to find that it has been established. Which I think by our report it has been happening.

I am hoping that Mr. Harper, who by the way is seems to be very concerned about human rights in China, will take a tough stand on this. Nobody in Canada can believe that our exports to China are going to be affected if we stand up on an issue like this.

Surely there are some things that are more important than trade with a government that by the way we have a 12 billion dollar trade deficit with China. Anyone who thinks Harper's government won't stand up on this issue I think is mistaken. I certainly remain optimistic that the Harper government is pushing this issue.

Reporter: Do you think that Harper's government can change the foreign aide policy to mainland China?

Kilgour: Well yes, why should China be getting I think it is 40 to 50 million dollars in taxpayers' money in aide program given what is going on?

The OECD has been raising the issue over the years that Canada should not be giving aide to China and if anything we have to make sure that every dollar of aide that goes from Canada to China doesn't get wasted, frittered away, doesn't go into something that allows the government of China to spend more money on doing hideous thing like organ harvesting against Falun Gong practitioners or persecuting the Falun Gong.

So I think we have to have some new thinking on the part of CIDA and the government of Canada with respect to that aide. If indeed we are to continue to give aide to China.

Reporter: It seems that the human rights dialogue between governments doesn't work quite right, what might you suggest?

Kilgour: My view is that we should raise human rights on every bilateral meeting we have with China. It should be raised every time there is a meeting between a representative of Canada and a representative of China.

Not raised once a year at this so-called human rights dialogue, which is a charade and has been pronounced a charade by former ambassador Charles Burton. So yes it is. We have to become very much more realistic about how we deal with China.

Reporter: Thank you very much.

Kilgour: You are welcome.

On September 25, the case against two Singapore Falun Gong practitioners for protesting against the persecution in front of the Chinese Embassy was in process at the Court of Appeals and then the Subordinate Court. Because the practitioners' lawyer Ravi could not attend the court due to illness, the practitioners requested an extension. The two courts agreed to extend the trial to mid-October, and the exact date will be decided in a meeting on October 2.

As lawyer Ravi can no longer represent the practitioners, they requested permission to hire overseas human rights lawyers. The prosecutor objected to this request and the judge of the Subordinate Court didn't respond.

The first hearing of this case was held from August 28 to 31. Because a witness of the plaintiffs refused to acknowledge that the Chinese Communist Party has been persecuting Falun Gong and the prosecutor and the Judge of the Subordinate Court refused to accept the "2004 United Nations Investigation Report" as evidence, the defendants raised a motion to the High Court. In a hearing held on August 31, the High Court rejected the defendants' request. The defendants then appealed to the Court of Appeals, which scheduled a hearing in the morning of September 25. Meanwhile, the trial at the Subordinate Court was scheduled to resume in the afternoon of September 25.  

During the court debate from September 25 to 29, the defendants raised the issue that lawyer Ravi is no longer able to defend them due to his health condition and they requested the Court to allow them to hire lawyers from abroad.

Ms. Ng Chye Huey said: "It is very hard to find a human rights lawyer other than Ravi in Singapore. However, as the case is very complicated, we need a lawyer. As many overseas lawyers know the persecution well and some have been involved in investigation, we request for permission to hire them to protect our rights."

The Judge of the Subordinate Court, Siva Shanmugam, didn't give a response. The prosecutor raised objections twice on September 26. His excuse was that he believed Ms. Huey to be capable of defending herself, as reportedly she testified at a UN meeting.

Attorney Chu Wan-chi, director of Internation Advocates for Justice, attended the court trial on September 26. Regarding the prosecutor's argument, she said that she was surprised. "The Singapore prosecutor told the court, why can't the practitioner defend herself when she could give a speech at the UN on how the Singapore government persecutes Falun Gong. I think that anyone in the law profession knows that defending oneself is completely different from testifying to a personal experience. The former requires more legal knowledge and skills to protect one's rights. I'm surprised by this line of reasoning." She said.

Ms. Chu added: "The international community is observing whether the Singapore government's suppressive policy against Falun Gong has been implemented into its judicial system, in other words, whether the whole judicial system is being used to persecute Falun Gong."  

Singapore Falun Gong Association spokeswoman Dr. Wang Yuyi said: "Whether or not the defendant is capable of defending herself has nothing to do with whether or not she has the right to hire a lawyer to defend her. Even if her testimony at the UN means that she is capable of defending herself [which is not the case], she should not be deprived of her right to hire a lawyer. The prosecutor used this excuse to obstruct Ms. Huey's desire to hire a lawyer, and this fact indicates that he has no respect for the defendant's rights."  

Dr. Wang added: "For example, among Singapore's senior political figures, many who are not lawyers can give speeches to the public. However, these officials still need to hire lawyers in lawsuits. Ms. Huey must receive more protection as a defendant. The prosecutor is applying a different standard to her."  

The second session of the United Nations Human Rights Council was held in Geneva on September 18, 2006. During the discussion session after the report of Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Ms. Ng Chye Huey did make a speech. In her speech, she talked about the persecution she has been subjected to in Singapore. She said that the Singapore government discriminates against and persecutes Falun Gong practitioners under the coercion of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). After the meeting, many representatives contacted Singapore practitioners to learn more information.