(Clearwisdom.net)
Five Falun Gong practitioners went to the Rozsa Center at the University of Calgary on October 2 to attend a seminar on economic development in China presented by Mr. Joseph Caron, the Canadian Ambassador to China.
We arrived at the seminar hall quite early and first met with the secretary of the ambassador and gave him a package of Dafa materials. As soon as he heard "Falun Gong," he said repeatedly, "I know, I know." He promised us that he would make sure that the ambassador received this package. In the meantime, we also gave him a package for himself.
We sat at the last row of the hall as the seminar started. A questions and answers session followed after the lecture ended. Sitting on both sides of the audience, we all raised our hands. One practitioner was signaled to speak.
She stood up, and with a clear and strong voice, she said, "I work at the University of Calgary. I am also a Falun Dafa practitioner. My question is concerning the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Falun Gong is a peaceful Qigong practice, following the principle of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. Yet, the persecution of Falun Gong in China has been going on for over four years. The number of people being persecuted is increasing every day. As of the end of September this year, 787 practitioners had died due to the persecution. Among them, many are relatives of Canadian citizens. In the past few years, the Canadian Government made tremendous efforts in rescuing them. In fact, there have been more than 10 successful such cases. So, I take this opportunity to show our gratitude towards the Canadian government and Ambassador. Now, my question is: Since the persecution is being escalated, do you have further measures to help stop this severe violation of human rights?"
When she finished, she won big applause from the audience. It was the only question that received applause. The Ambassador answered the question earnestly: "The persecution of Falun Gong is a huge and serious problem. We will continue to remind the Chinese government, and I also hope Falun Gong practitioners will persist in their efforts to let the Canadian government know what is happening in China. To stop this persecution, we will not stop our efforts...."
After the seminar was over, practitioners gathered together to share their experiences and I reflected on what happened during the meeting. Sitting in the last row of the meeting room in her undistinguished attire, it was hard for me to believe that this practitioner would get the chairperson's attention to ask a question, yet, it happened.
Her questions were fluently delivered and brought many in the audience to rapt attention. The Ambassador's answer on the Falun Gong question was very earnest and sincere. Everything seems so ingenuously arranged. Actually, the location of where one sat or how one dressed was not crucial, however, our righteous thoughts were. Only when we maintain strong righteous thoughts, can we change everything. And only Dafa has such wisdom. Through this experience, we all realized the strength of righteous thoughts and how peoples' hearts were touched after telling them the truth about Dafa.
