(Minghui.org) Falun Dafa practitioners participated in the 26th annual Calgary Lilac Festival on May 31, 2015. They joined the opening ceremony parade and set up a booth to introduce the practice to festival attendees. Member of Parliament Joan Crockatt stopped to talk with the practitioners at the booth.
Over a hundred thousand people attended the festival that spanned 13 blocks featuring an array of musical talent, artisan vendors, and entertainment.
Falun Dafa practitioners participate in the Calgary Lilac Festival parade. http://www.minghui.org/mh/article_images/2015-6-5-minghui-falun-gong-calgary-02.jpgFalun Dafa practitioners' waist drum team performs in the parade.
Demonstrating Falun Dafa exercises and talking with booth visitors.
A practitioner talks with visitors, explaining the background of Falun Dafa and the persecution in China.
When MP Joan Crockatt stopped to talk with practitioners at the booth, she mentioned her concern for Ms. Chen Yinghua, the daughter of Calgary resident Huang Jinling. Ms. Chen was sentenced to four years in prison in China two months ago for her her belief in Falun Dafa. MP Crockatt said she talked with the Chinese ambassador in Ottawa about the issue and urged the Chinese government to release her. She mentioned that she received numerous petition letters from Calgary residents and would bring this to the attention of the Parliament.
Member of Parliament Joan Crockatt takes a photo with Falun Dafa practitioners.
Many attendees stopped at the Falun Dafa booth to get materials and ask for more information about the practice and how they could learn.
A man named Walston said he had come across Falun Dafa practitioners demonstrating the exercises at another event recently and felt the energy field was very strong. He learned two of the five exercises from the instruction video on Falun Dafa website. He said, “I saw rotating things moving along with the movement of my hands while I was learning the exercises. It was incredible!”
Some Chinese people also came forward to ask for information on Falun Dafa. A middle-aged man asked if there was information materials in Chinese and wished to learn about persecution, information that is kept secret in China. He then took a stance against the persecution by declaring his withdrawal from the Chinese Communist Party's organizations.
Two employees of a foreign-owned enterprise in China had come to report to headquarters in Calgary. They read each display board carefully and asked for details about the April 25 demonstration and the Communist regime-staged Tiananmen self-immolation. Both of them decided to renounce the Party and thanked the practitioners before leaving.
