(Minghui.org) Brent Rathgeber, a Canadian Parliament Member and the chair of “Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong,” stated on November 6 during an interview that, “The U.S. government, the Canadian government, and the entire international community certainly ought to be very concerned about the practice of organ harvesting in China, especially with respect to condemned prisoners without their consent and certainly with respect to prisoners of conscience such as Falun Dafa.”

MP Rathgeber said, “There are some things that the Canadian Parliament can do. There was a Private Members bill that would make it an offense for Canadian citizens to receive an organ transplant without knowing the origins of that organ.”

Brent Rathgeber, Canadian Parliament Member and the chair of “Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong”

He said, “The entire international community has to do what it can to put pressure on the Chinese government to stop these abhorrent practices.”

MP Rathgeber said that he knows David Kilgour very well, and he has met David Matas too. "I know they studied this issue. So, regardless of what information the Secretary of State has, it is fairly certain that this practice [exists] with respect to not only prisoners who have been condemned to death but also to prisoners of conscience such as the Falun Gong," Rathgeber said.

Rathgeber said, “If the United States government has proof or an admission from a Chinese official, certainly disclosure of this type of document would be helpful, but even in the absence of that information, I am fairly certain, I am fairly confident, that the accounts of organ harvesting at the hands of the Chinese government occurs with respect to prisoners, both condemned prisoners and prisoners of conscience. I think the international community has to shine a light on that and put pressure to make it cease, because it is indefensible.”

Mr. Rathgeber continued, “I am the chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong. I guess we are sort of an educational group in many ways. Certainly, with respect to new Members of Parliament who may not be familiar with the plight of Falun Gong, or may not understand the extent that organ harvesting occurs in China, we try to educate Members of Parliament and the public generally, on the challenges and the plight of the Falun Gong, and the abhorrent practices – I mean, about the discrimination generally that they face at the hands of the Chinese government, but certainly, organ harvesting is at the top of our list of concerns.”

“We could also make inquiries, and I know that this has been done with respect to our Foreign Affairs Department about the issuing of visas if a doctor from China wanted to come to Canada to study the medicine and the science of organ transplant. I think the Canadian government would have to look very carefully at the legitimacy of that application.”

“I have no doubt that legitimate organ transplants also occur. I mean, it is a growing area of science. It is an important area of science. But it can only occur if the donor is consenting following a natural death. So, I think with respect to any physicians who want to come to Canada on a medical visa or student visa to study the medicine and the technique of organ transplantation, I think the Foreign Affairs has to look at those individuals very carefully to assure themselves that they are not involved in illegal harvesting of organs, and if there is any doubt, a visa should be denied.”

He said, “Before the last Parliament, [there was an attempt to] deal with Canadians who receive organs to assure that they know the origins of those organs, and though that Bill didn’t pass, it just wasn’t defeated, it was just left when the election was called. So, I think we need to look at reinstituting it. Now that we have a majority government, our Parliament will last a little bit longer, so we can actually get bills passed into law. That is something that we have to look into again.”

When asked, “What is the suggestion to the government?” Rathgeber said, “I think Parliament could look at a bill with respect to prohibiting Canadians from receiving organs from unknown sources. As you know, there is a black market for organs that have been harvested without the consent of the donor. So, with respect to Canadians, there could be a prohibition against accepting those or making sure that the recipient knows the origins. And I think that the Canadian government should look at the visa applications for medical practitioners who want to come into this country to study the technique of transplant surgery to make sure that they are not in any way, that those individuals are not in any way involved in a black market for organs or for illegal and not consensual organ harvesting.”

“Primarily, the Parliamentary Friends of Falun Dafa exists to educate parliamentarians and the Canadian public on these types of issues, because they are not well known. Many Canadians do not know that this goes on.”

Talking about the situation in China, Rathgeber said, “Certainly as there is a transition and new people are being appointed to key positions in the Communist Party, it is a critical period. If the international community puts pressure, then individuals who may not have been involved in this practice (of organ harvesting) at all, but as they come into positions of power, they will understand how reprehensible the rest of the global community find these types of activities.”

“Certainly Canada is involved with trade talks and trade treaties with respect to China, and many human rights advocates believe that maybe we should step back and not do business with China, given China’s questionable human rights record. I think there's a different approach. I think we need to establish as many contact and ties between Canada and China as we can – political, business, cultural, so there are many lines of communication between the business communities and the government communities, so that we can constantly, constantly bring pressure at every level of business and art, culture and dancing, writing, but also the political levels to constantly try to educate and bring pressure to Chinese decision makers that respect for human rights is the first and fundamental obligation of any legitimate government and respect for the rule of law.”

He said, “I think any time a government [is involved] in abhorrent human rights activities--and I certainly consider organ harvesting to be close to if not at the top of that list--that is going to bear negatively on all of the relations, whether it is bi-lateral with the State, or multi-lateral through the United Nations.”

“So, certainly to me, that doesn’t mean that we should abandon China as an economic trading partner. Far from it, as I indicated in my last – I think, part of this problem, I don’t understand it as well as others who have studied it like my friend David Kilgour, but part of it is educational and part of it is cultural, and part of it might be economic.”

“I mean, part of it is economic. There is money to be made harvesting these organs. So at least part of the solution is expanding legitimate trade between our countries to the mutual economic advantage of both China and Canada and the U.S. – you know China being a very growing market – so that people and governments don’t need to resort to these abhorrent acts for commerce.”

“I hope that there is no need for individuals to be involved in these abhorrent acts, the illegal harvesting of organs and putting them on the market.”

MP Rathgeber mentioned that the book “Bloody Harvest,” an investigation report by David Kilgour and David Matas. He said, “I can't honestly tell you that I enjoyed reading the book, because I didn’t. It was very, very disturbing and it made me very depressed and sad to read it. But it was very educational and it certainly helped me in my role as chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong, to understand. This issue certainly is not isolated. It happens in more than one location in China. It is more prevalent than some people know or like to talk about. So, it opened up my eyes, but it was not an easy book to read.”

Background:

Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong (PFOFG) was founded in Ottawa in October 2009 by an all-party group of senators and members of Parliament concerned about adversities facing followers of Falun Gong. It is the first such group of Parliamentarians in the world lending focused support to the practitioners of Falun Dafa, that have suffered a decade of persecution in communist China. It now has 33 parliament members and senators.