November 21st, 2001

Christine Loftus has a message she wants to get across.

The second year Child and Youth Studies student walked for five days, from St. Catharines to Toronto, bringing awareness to the fact that Chinese citizens are being persecuted because they practice 'Falun Dafa', a method of refining the mind and body through special exercises and meditation.

A Falun Dafa practitioner herself, Ms. Loftus said it is not unlike Tai-chi.

"I started practicing about three years ago with my twin brother Jason, in Barrie," she explained. While she had heard stories about those who did practice Falun Dafa experiencing drastic health differences, it wasn't long before it ran true for herself and her family.

"I used to have stomach problems, my brother used to have asthma and since my mom's been practicing, she's not going to her chiropractor any more," she said.

A year after she began practicing, Ms. Loftus started hearing stories of Chinese citizens being persecuted because of their involvement with Falun Dafa. Due to its popularity, the Chinese president, Jiang Zemin, decided to ban Falun Dafa. To date, over 300 people have died in police custody, though sources say the actual number is over 1, 000.

The [Jiang Zemin's] government has justified its actions against practitioners by calling it an [slanderous word omitted], one that has caused deaths and the break up of families.

"My five days of walking is nothing compared to the suffering the practitioners in China have endured. They have selflessly appealed for over two years, being beaten, harassed, tortured or even raped, in order to clarify the truth for people both inside and outside of China," Ms. Loftus wrote in a letter she carried with her on her walk.

On the morning of Nov. 8, Ms. Loftus and three other Falun Dafa practitioners began their walk at Brock University, hitting Grimsby at about 6pm. Their route would take them from Brock to McMaster, and from there to the University of Toronto and, finally, to Ryerson University.

Ms. Loftus explained during their walk, they hoped to visit local government officials such as MPs and Mayors. While they were walking through Lincoln, Mayor Konkle stopped them to talk about their campaign.

"We had called his office before the walk, but we were really surprised to see him," she said, adding that he had a Falun Dafa button on his suit jacket.

"It was really nice to see a Mayor doing that," she said.

Ms. Loftus finished her walk on Monday, and said that the support that she received from the schools she visited during the walk was "fabulous."

For more information on the practice, visit www.falundafa.org.