(Minghui.org) To mark the 26^th anniversary of their peacefully protesting the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution, Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) practitioners and supporters gathered in Toronto’s city center on July 13, 2025, to condemn the CCP’s decades-long persecution and call for it to end.

Practitioners did the Falun Dafa exercises at Queen’s Park in front of the Ontario Provincial Parliament building at 9 a.m., despite the rain. The sky cleared at noon when the rally started.

Group practice at Queen’s Park

Rally in front of the Ontario Provincial Parliament building on July 13, 2025

Condemning the 26-year-long Persecution

Joel Chipkar, the event host, said that the CCP’s persecution is ongoing.

Joel Chipkar, the event host, said, “Falun Gong is a spiritual practice based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. It teaches people to be kind, righteous, and selfless to treat others. However, in China practitioners of this peaceful belief are imprisoned, tortured, and even subjected to the CCP’s forced organ harvesting. Falun Gong is defamed with lies in propaganda. For 26 years, hundreds of thousands of practitioners have died from forced organ harvesting.”

To cover up its crimes against humanity, the CCP launched large-scale hate propaganda targeting Falun Gong, and spread lies about the spiritual discipline to the international community. The CCP has also conducted a transnational suppression of Falun Gong.

For 26 years, Falun Gong practitioners have continued to peacefully protest and has never resort to violence. They distribute fliers on the street to clarify the truth. They also set up media to spread the truth and present Shen Yun Performing Arts, which showcases traditional Chinese culture.

Calling for Immediate Release of Imprisoned Practitioners

Yang Man (left) calls on the international community to pay attention to the CCP’s persecution of her mother.

Falun Gong practitioner Yang Man from Liaoning Province, China appealed for her mother who is still imprisoned in Liaoning Women’s Prison: “Immediately release my mother, Pan Jing, and stop the CCP’s persecution of all Falun Gong practitioners!”

In her speech, she said, “Because the CCP has been persecuting Falun Gong for 26 years, including state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting, I cannot return to my hometown.”

Ms. Yang was nine years old when she began practicing Falun Gong with her mother, and she followed the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance to be a good person. “However, in 1999, the CCP began a brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners across the country. My mother was subsequently arrested, and was detained at least seven times, illegally sent to forced labor camps twice, and locked up in a mental hospital. Due to repeated torture, one of my mother’s toes could not be straightened for a long time.

“In October 2014, just before I left China, the police harassed my mother and asked her to sign a confession of guilt. During the same period, the police also asked local Falun Gong practitioners to have their blood drawn and tested, presumably in preparation for live organ harvesting,” she said.

In early March 2023, Ms. Yang learned that her mother had been illegally sentenced to three years in prison by the Zhen’an District Court and extorted a fine of 5,000 yuan (US $697). She was then detained in the 12th Ward of Liaoning Women’s Prison, which is the “intensive training and correction ward.” The prison guards use various cruel means to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their belief.

In May this year, Ms. Pan Jing went on a hunger strike in prison to protest the persecution. Ms. Yang hopes that the outside world will pay attention to the persecution of her mother by Liaoning Women’s Prison, and protest the CCP’s suppression of all Falun Gong practitioners.

Practitioner Describes the Torture She Suffered

Ms. Zhang, a Falun Gong practitioner from Sichuan Province, China, came to Canada in late 2023. She was one of the first registered cost engineers in China. She began practicing Falun Gong in 1997. “The book Zhuan Falun answered all my questions about life. After I began practicing I did not need another pill. My health is great.”

The CCP launched a comprehensive crackdown on Falun Gong in 1999. Because she persisted in her belief, she was detained seven times and experienced forced labor, imprisonment, brainwashing sessions, torture, and other persecution. “My personal experience confirms the CCP’s extermination policy of ‘discrediting their reputation, cutting off their income, and physically eliminating the practitioners.’”

In 2002, Ms. Zhang was subjected to the torture called “duck floating on water” in Yanbian County Detention Center, which involved tying her hands behind her back with a thin nylon rope, then attaching the rope to a window railing and suspending her with only her toes touching the ground and the weight of her body concentrated on her arms. “The police told me that they use this method on murderers,” she said. “The longest time I was tied and hung up lasted for a day and a night, and I was not allowed to eat.

“I went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution, and was force-fed. The detention center police used pliers to pry open my teeth, and my front tooth was broken. They used toothbrushes and chopsticks thrust into my mouth, scratching my throat, lips, and upper palate. Blood and rice soup flowed down the corners of my mouth, and my whole body was covered with blood and rice soup. The female inmates in the cell wept when they saw my miserable condition.”

Ms. Zhang was a teacher. After the CCP began to persecute and slander Falun Gong, she told her students how her family became healthier and more harmonious after practicing Falun Gong. “Just because I told the truth, I was arrested and sentenced to three years. During those three years, I was forced to undergo brainwashing, forced to do slave labor, and force-fed. When I was released from prison three years later, half of my teeth were loose, and some had even fallen out. All this was just because I didn’t want to lie and because I insisted on being an upright and kind person.”

The Persecution is Ongoing

Yu Houqiang, chairman of the China Democratic Party in Canada, said in his speech at the rally, “Falun Gong practitioners have persisted in protesting the persecution for 26 years, but the persecution still goes on in China, and it is even institutionalized.

“If there were no persecution, then we should be enjoying life standing here in such good weather. We hold our rally and protest because we know that this persecution is ongoing, not only in China, but also in Canada. So we have to stand up and protect our freedom. Protecting our freedom and upholding our values is actually protecting Canada’s freedom and values.”