(Shared at Canada 2002 Conference)
(Clearwisdom.net) Editors' note: At the moment, Dafa practitioners around the world are in the process of sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the factors in other dimensions controlling the head of the evil and to destroy evil substances in large quantities with the divine power of the Buddha Fa. They are already at the stage of creating the necessary time and space for truth clarification in a more comprehensive, more extensive and more in-depth manner. We hope more Dafa practitioners will cherish Fa-rectification opportunities and grasp every chance we have to clarify the truth to people while paying full attention to Fa-study and sending forth righteous thoughts.
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Respectful Greetings to our Master, and Greetings to fellow practitioners,
I'll report on our Hongfa activities to the labor unions in Vancouver, BC./Canada
Master says in "A Message:" "Clarifying the truth, at the same time as exposing the evil, restrains the evil and lessens the persecution; and exposing the evil is at the same time purging from people's minds the poison of the evil's lies and deception--it is saving people. This is the grandest mercy... Validating Dafa and exposing the evil in ordinary human society seem to resemble work in ordinary human society. But they are not. Everyday people do everything out of self-interest, whereas what we do is to safeguard Dafa. This is what a Dafa disciple should do, and it is without any selfish elements."
We have done extensive work spreading the Fa to various levels of government, including the Prime Minister, Ministers, Members of Parliament, Provincial Governments, City Councils and County Shires. Everything has been done in order to reduce the pressure on Dafa practitioners in Mainland China and to appeal to the Canadian government to condemn the persecution in China. We gradually understood that we needed to start working with people in society so that the great masses of the Canadian people would know about Falun Dafa and the truth of the persecution. No matter from which angle we looked at the situation, whether from the point of view of offering salvation to people or hoping that the government would issue a condemnation against the persecution, we needed to work with people throughout society.
In June 2001, 3 female Dafa practitioners were murdered and many more were seriously injured in an outburst of violence at the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp. On August 2nd of 2001, over 130 Dafa practitioners started a hunger strike to protest the inhuman persecution in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. In view of what was happening in China, we felt deep in our hearts that we had to act immediately. We used various forms and channels to effectively help people from all walks of life and various organizations in Canada to take action to help rescue Falun Gong practitioners in China, and by doing so, save themselves.
Meanwhile we learned that the Prime Minister would visit China in October. We thus decided to extend our Fa spreading activities deep into the public domain and focus on the labor unions and student societies.
Labor unions in Canada are very strong organizations. They exist in all cities and provinces with a membership of over 2.3 million people. Toronto practitioners had already made a good start. Both the Chairman of the Canadian National Labor Union and the Director for Canada of the United Steelworkers of America had written letters to the Prime Minister and the Chinese Ambassador, Mei Ping, to protest the persecution and ask the Prime Minister to take action. Based on the persecution in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, we prepared materials and launched a postcard petition campaign among various universities and labor unions.
From this point on, I began to communicate with labor unions. Before I made the first phone call to the head of the Vancouver branch of the Steelworkers, I weighed my words for a quite while, trying to find the proper phrases to say. Actually, we only need to keep a pure and clear mind when doing Dafa work. Master requires us to "spread the Fa and offer salvation to people with compassion." It is as simple as that. We should be clear that rather than us asking for a support letter, it was the benevolent salvation of Master at work here. Giving their support would lay a good foundation for their future. This could be obtained for tens of thousands of union members. It was a very important matter that concerned many lives. With compassionate hearts and "doing with no pursuit," everything went very well.
During the meeting, the person in charge also invited another individual who was also in charge of human rights issues to attend. Our talk helped both of them gain a comprehensive understanding of the overall situation of Dafa. The originally scheduled half hour meeting was extended to one and a half hours. They were very moved and wanted to support us. Meanwhile they also advised us on what we should know in order to work with labor unions. When contacting labor unions, go to the top first. Specifically, go to the Head Office or the General Union. Any resolutions at the branch level need to be approved by the Head Office first. It was possible to publish our materials in their regular newsletters so that all the union members and company workers would have a chance to read them. Labor unions also have their own women's organizations, and we were able introduce Dafa and clarify the truth of the persecution of female Dafa practitioners to them. They also told us the time of their annual assembly and invited us to apply for a display site for Dafa materials when the time comes.
Having gained this experience, we went on to another activity and started to prepare postcards. We gained support from the student unions of three universities to help launch the postcard campaign.
At the same time, we began to contact the three largest labor unions to make appointments with those in charge. The first one was the British Columbia Federation of Labor. We met with the person in charge of human rights issues. She also happened to be the director of the Women's Association. After we told her the truth about Dafa, she invited us to attend their executive committee meeting the very next week. Thirty executives representing various labor unions in British Columbia attended the executive committee. She also took the initiative to mail out 1,500 letters on their letterhead, which were signed by their members to appeal to the Prime Minister. She would also present Dafa materials at the Canadian Labor Union Women's Conference to be held in October of this year. She provided us with complete contact details of all the labor unions in Greater Vancouver and circled the most influential ones for us to contact first. She also told us that we could mention her name when contacting these unions.
One week later we were invited to the executive committee meeting and gave a comprehensive presentation on Dafa. We handed out over 30 sets of materials. They asked us many relevant questions and we answered each one of them. At the meeting, we not only gained full support from them; we also made new friends. This helped us a lot in our later work.
The second person we contacted was the person in charge of the Greater Vancouver Labor Union. During our meeting he not only offered his full support, but also wrote a letter to the Prime Minister on the spot. Furthermore, he told us that we could display a banner stating "Greater Vancouver Labor Union Supports Falun Dafa" in our activities. This would signify support from 118 labor unions representing 58,000 members in the Greater Vancouver area.
The next meeting was with the New Westminster District Labor Union. After hearing our introduction, the person in charge immediately wrote a letter to appeal to the Prime Minister. He voiced his opposition to the persecution of Falun Gong in China on behalf of 115 labor unions and over 47,000 members.
Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference," "In everything we do we need to be responsible to the future. Meanwhile, during our clarifying the truth, the future people have truly been saved. In particular, the understanding and support the people outside Mainland China have shown towards Dafa has laid an excellent foundation for their obtaining the Fa and entering the future human society."
Though these contacts I have come to understand that as long as our hearts are in the Fa, as long as we offer salvation to people with compassion and do things without pursuit, then all will be arranged by Master's Fashen [Law Body]. I also believe that the most effective way to introduce Dafa and clarify the truth is to talk to people face to face. From our experience, whenever we have the opportunity to talk to people face to face, the effect is almost 100% good.
Next, we started to contact various large labor unions and gained support from many union leaders.
On October 20, 2001 the Canadian Prime Minister raised concerns about the human rights situation in China. He specifically mentioned the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. These concerns were raised at the APEC conference in Shanghai. All of this was reported on VOA (Voice of America) radio.
Since then, we have been in contact with the labor unions on a regular basis.
Before the UN Human Rights Commission meeting was held this March, and during the urgent rescue appeal for Changchun City practitioners who broadcast truth-clarification programs on cable TV in March, we again contacted all the labor unions. We appealed to the Chairman and members of the Canadian labor Union Committee, asking them to extend their helping hand to stop the brutal persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in China.
Dafa practitioners all over the world staged hunger strikes, one after another, to protest the state-run terrorism carried out by the Chinese government. On March 27, this year, Vancouver Dafa practitioners held a 36-hour hunger strike in front of the Art Museum as well as a press conference. There were only two days to notify the media and other organizations. Many practitioners cooperated with each other to write letters, send faxes and make phone calls. I could not get through to the director of the Human Rights section of the B.C. Federation of Labor Unions because of her busy schedule. After a few attempts, I decided to stay on the phone and wait until she could to talk to me. I felt that I should wait until I was connected because we were supporting Dafa practitioners in Mainland China and offering more labor union members a chance to be saved. I waited nearly half an hour, during which time the secretary asked me three times, "Do you still want to wait?" I replied happily, "Yes, I do." I had never experienced patience like that before. When she finally came on line, I told her what had happened in Changchun City between March 5 and March 24. I also told her about the urgent action notice form Amnesty International. She was shocked. Then I invited her to attend our press conference the next day. When I hung up the phone I felt relieved, because I had told her what I needed to tell her. Not only did she attend our press conference, she also invited Mr. Jim Sinclair, President of the B.C. Federation of Labor Unions to come along as well.
I did not expect such a result. It was all because of the power of Dafa.
Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference," "Clarifying the truth isn't a simple matter--it's not only a matter of exposing the evil. When we clarify the truth we are saving sentient beings, and at the same time it involves the matter of your own improvement and your elimination of attachments during your cultivation, and the matter of Dafa disciples being responsible to the Fa in their cultivation."
On March 27, in front of the Art Museum at Robson Square, practitioners who were hunger striking sat there neatly assembled, looking sacred, solemn and peaceful. In the rain, Mr. Jim Sinclair, President of the B.C. Federation of Labor (CLC), made a speech. He represents over 450,000 members of the B.C. Federation of Labor. Mr. Sinclair expressed appreciation to all the Dafa practitioners participating in the hunger strike for upholding their principles. In addition, the President of the Canadian National Labor Union had asked him to represent 2.3 million members to condemn the actions of Jiang's regime. He said: "Our support for human rights goes beyond national boundaries. On behalf of the B.C. Federation of Labor, I declare that we will not keep silent about the detention, imprisonment and torture of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese government. You have our full support to achieve your goals. We shall pass the urgent rescue appeal from AI to our members. We will also ask the Canadian National Labor Union to do so. We will appeal to the Canadian government and the Chinese government to stop this brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. You have our support. We will continue to stand by you until Falun Gong practitioners have freedom of assembly, and until they are no longer in any danger of reprisals."
In the drizzling rain, everything was so peaceful. Watching Mr. Sinclair's face, wet from the rain, his sincere expression and listening to his determined words, I truly felt happy for him and for the tens of thousands of people that he represented. I felt happy for the countless beings in the universe. At that moment, I remembered the words of Master in "Congratulatory Statement to the New York Fa Conference," "What history has bestowed upon Dafa disciples are all the most magnificent things. At present, all that you are doing is the most sacred, all that you are doing is for the sentient beings, and all that you are doing is creating the future."
How lucky we are to be Dafa disciples!
Our benevolent and great Master has also bestowed upon Dafa disciples the honor of participating in Fa-rectification. We are Master's Fa-rectification disciples and carry an incomparably important mission and responsibilities.
Let us set strict demands for ourselves according to Dafa. Let's cultivate our hearts towards compassion and selflessness and take every step well in the last stage of Fa-rectification cultivation. In doing so we may truly deserve the immense benevolence of Master and truly deserve the sacred title of "Dafa disciples during the Fa-rectification period."
The above are some of my understandings at my current level. Please kindly point out anything improper.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, everyone!