President of British Columbia Federation of Labour Stands up for Falun Gong at Vancouver Press Conference

[Editor's note: In order to raise public awareness about the atrocities being committed against fellow practitioners by the Jiang regime in China, on March 27, 2002, Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference at the Vancouver Art Gallery in Robson Square. Mr. Jim Sinclair, President of the British Columbia Federation of Labour, accepted an invitation to appear at the event and sent the following notes regarding the main points he intended to cover in his speech.]

On behalf of the 450,000 members of the B.C. Federation of Labour, and the more than 2.3 million members of the Canadian Labour Congress, I am here today to stand beside you to condemn the actions of the Chinese government.

Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Geogetti has asked that I tell your practitioners here today, and around the world, that their human rights are important to the Labour Movement here in Canada.

And on behalf of our B.C. Federation of Labour, I want to assure you that BC Union Members will not stand silently by while the Chinese government detains members of the FalunáGong, subjecting them to imprisonment, torture and even murder.

Our concern for human rights does not end at our borders.

And on behalf of the labour movement here in Canada, I call on our federal government to intervene on behalf of those practitioners who simply choose to exercise their rights as established by the International Bill of Rights.

Their right to join together collectively in a peaceful movement.

The same rights that allow our labour movement to exist here ináCanada.

The right to come together, to work together, to make our world a better place.

Workers rights are human rights.

And human rights are not negotiable.

Our government must start putting human rights on the table when it signs international trade deals.

Canadian companies that do business with China must start to care about the rights of the people in the countries in which they do business.

Our government can no longer look the other way when doing business with China.

I give you our commitment to support your cause.

We will circulate Amnesty International's urgent action appeal to our members.

And we will ask the Canadian Labour Congress to do the same.

We will lobby both our government and that of China to stop this horrendous persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

You have our support.

We will continue to stand beside you until your members can exercise freedom of association in China without fear of reprisal.

Thank you.