(Clearwisdom.net) Minghui reporter Dong Na reports in Ottawa: On January 11, 2005, prior to Canadian Prime Minister John Martin's visit to China, nearly a hundred Falun Gong practitioners peacefully appealed in front of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. The Falun Dafa Association delivered a letter to the Prime Minister's Office, calling for the Canadian Prime Minister to urge the Chinese authorities during his visit to China to stop the persecution of Falun Gong and release all illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners including relatives of Canadians. Five Canadian major media outlets including CBC TV, CBC Radio and Omni TV covered the event.

Falun Gong practitioners deliver a petition letter and materials to Prime Minister's Office

Toronto resident Mr. Zeng Xiaonan told the Canadian media about his mother, 50-year-old Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Huang Xin who has been persecuted in China. On September 14, 2003, Ms. Huang was illegally sentenced to eight years in prison by Shenyang City's Heping District's Faping District Court, and was detained at Team 7, Division 9 in the Liaoning Provincial Women's Prison. She was later transferred to the Prison Hospital where she was forced to take mind-altering drugs (such as chlorpromazine) usually used for psychiatric patients. She has become emaciated and her life is in danger.

According to Mr. Zeng, his mother has been held at the Hepatitis Ward of the Prison Hospital's Infectious Disease Division for seven months, where she has been forced to take two daily doses of Chlorpromazine hydrochloride (trade name: Thorazine. Reference: http://www.sntp.net/drugs/thorazine.htm). Because of the side effects of the high drug dose, her mind became blurry. Sometimes she was not able to speak and had difficulty moving her lower limbs. Her thought processes and movements were extremely slow. She belabored over every word. According to verification from other practitioners who are also illegally detained, whenever she showed a bit resistance to the injection, she was beaten. Her limbs were tied up for a long period of time until she had no strength to resist.

Mr. Zeng related that after the persecution began on July 20, 1999, his mother went to Beijing twice to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. Both times, the local police arrested her and sent her back to Shenyang City. Both times she was detained at the Shenyang City Detention Center for about two weeks, forcing her family members to pay fines. During 2000 and 2003, the police and her work unit extorted nearly 10,000 Yuan from her for various fines and bonds that were never refunded to her. The police tapped her phone, her work unit cut off her salary, and her family was forced to move four times. In 2002, Ms. Huang was arrested for delivering truth clarification materials. She staged a hunger strike that lasted several days in the detention center and was finally transferred to Dabei Prison Hospital in Shenyang City when she was on the brink of death. The prison authorities were afraid to be responsible for her death and asked the family to take her home. Ms. Huang's weight dropped to about 60 lbs and her body was covered with congealed blood as a result from electric shocks they administered to her. When her family came for her, she was unconscious and on the brink of death.

At noon, Mr. Zeng Xiaonan and the president of Canadian Falun Dafa Association Mr. Li Xun delivered a petition letter and related materials including a list of names of relatives of Canadians.

Falun Gong practitioners practice the exercises to appeal at minus 10 C

The persecution has been systematically implemented

The materials that the President of the Canadian Falun Dafa Association Mr. Li Xun delivered to Prime Minister Martin included a report from a witness from the "People Who Are Persecuted for Their Beliefs" Hearing held on December 2, 2004, by the Group on Development of Human Rights and International Relations in the Canadian Parliament.

Mr. Li mentioned in the letter, "At that time, the number of practitioners who died as a result of the persecution was 1157. Today, the number has increased to 1238." The letter expressed that the number was still a conservative estimate. Because the Chinese authorities block information, a large number of cases of torture deaths have not been reported. More than a hundred thousand Falun Gong practitioners have been sent to forced labor camps.

At the press conference that same day, Mr. Li expressed that the persecution is a systematic and large-scale persecution. The large number of persecution facts from the International community verifies this point. In addition, the persecution not only takes place in Mainland China, but also outside of China including in Canada. Jiang's faction has used the Chinese embassies and consulates in different countries to send letters to those countries and other means to slander Falun Gong, incite hatred, and even defame Falun Gong in the newspapers and to attack Falun Gong practitioners. At the beginning of last year, Toronto Deputy Consul General Pan Xinchun was found libel by Canada's Ontario Supreme Court for publicly defaming Falun Gong in a newspaper.

Kinds of ways to oppose the persecution

Toronto Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Zeng Xiaonan (left) and Mr. Li Xun (right) at the press conference

Mr. Zeng expressed at the press conference that many people with a sense of justice in China have protested to the departments that are responsible for the persecution of his mother by making phone calls and mailing over a thousand letters. Messages from many overseas media have also been transmitted to China through various means to let those participants in the persecution feel pressure.

Mr. Zeng gave an example, "The Heping District '610 Office' staff member who arrested my mother has resigned due to the pressure. After making phone calls for a month, I found the phone of Shenyang City's '610 Office' was cancelled. So, we can see the pressure on them is big."

Mr. Li pointed out that, in addition to talking about Falun Gong practitioners' peaceful and rational way of opposing the persecution, other than appealing to the Canadian government, Falun Gong practitioners have also taken appropriate legal channels to bring the perpetrators to justice, including at the beginning of last year. For example, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police added the names of 45 Chinese officials in the party committees, '610 Office' personnel, government officials and lawless personnel in forced labor camps including Jiang Zemin, Li Lanqing, Luo Gan, Wang Maolin and Liu Jing to a watch list. These people will be subjected to immediate investigation if they enter Canada.

Since last March, three lawsuits have been filed in Canada, against the initiators and directors of the persecution including Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Liu Jing, Zhou Yongkang and Li Lanqing.

Mr. Li expressed that while punishing bad people, Canada also actively rescues relatives of Canadians who are Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China. Mr. Li suggested in his letter to the Prime Minister to extensively and publicly raise the persecution facts about Falun Gong practitioners to Chinese leaders, and after expressing the depth and extent of the persecution, demand that the Chinese authorities stop the persecution and release all illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners.

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Background information:

The Canadian Parliament unanimously passed a private motion M 236 in October 2002 proposed by MP Scott Reid. The motion requests the Prime Minister to take advantage of his upcoming meeting with President Jiang Zemin of China at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation [APEC] Conference to privately raise the issue of releasing thirteen [13] Falun Gong practitioners who have close family ties to Canada, and allowing them to be re-united with their families in Canada. The 13 practitioners are relatives of Canadian citizens or permanent residents, including spouses, parents and brothers and sisters.