Falun Gong Rally in Ottawa, Canada: Amnesty International Commends Efforts to End 22-Year-Long Persecution

(Minghui.org) On July 20, 2021, Falun Gong practitioners gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, to mark 22 years of peacefully resisting the persecution. They also urged the Chinese Communist regime to release all imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners, including Ms. Sun Qian, a Chinese Canadian businesswoman, sentenced to eight years in prison in Beijing for her belief, and twelve other Canadian citizens’ family members.

Ketty Nivyabandi, the Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada, issued a statement commending the practitioners’ courage and perseverance in their efforts to end the persecution.

On July 20, 2021, Falun Gong practitioners appealed in front of the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa for the persecution to end.

In her statement, Ketty Nivyabandi wrote, “As a result (of the persecution), tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been arbitrarily detained. And, they were forced to renounce their spiritual beliefs using torture and other ill-treatment. Amnesty International receives regular reports of deaths of individuals in custody in China, often caused by torture, despite China’s ratification of the UN Convention Against Torture in 1988. Falun Gong practitioners continued to be subjected to persecution, arbitrary detention, unfair trials, and torture.”

“We are particularly concerned with the situation of a Canadian citizen, and Falun Gong practitioner Sun Qian, unjustly imprisoned and almost certainly subject to torture and ill-treatment and who is likely to have renounced her Canadian citizenship under duress,” Nivyabandi continued.

“The repression against Falun Gong extends to Canadian soil, as documented by a report we released on behalf of the Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China. Harassment, threats, interference, and violence against human rights defenders in Canada, including Falun Gong practitioners, who draw attention to China’s worsening human rights record, are a reality. The Canadian government must take up our Coalition’s recommendations for action to ensure that Falun Gong and other human rights defenders working here in Canada are safe,” she added.

“Our call to the government of China remains as urgent today as it was 22 years ago. The Chinese government must be held accountable for upholding the human rights of all peoples in China,” Ketty Nivyabandi wrote at the end of the letter.

Practitioner: The Persecution Extends to Canada

William Wang said that the CCP police continue to pressure his family in China.

In August 1999, William Wang, an aircraft design engineer, went to Beijing for the third time to appeal for Falun Gong with several other practitioners. They clarified the truth to their relatives and friends there. A couple of days later, they were reported and then abducted by officers from Beijing’s Fengtai District Police Department. They were handcuffed all the way back to their hometown.

Mr. Wang said that even after he came to Canada, he could still feel the pressure of the persecution. Shortly after arriving in Canada, the CCP police called and threatened Mr. Wang’s father. They said Mr. Wang would lose his job and have no career if he ever returned to China if he continued to practice Falun Gong in Canada.

Two days before the event in Ottawa, the police in China went to his mother-in-law’s home and asked about Mrs. Wang’s whereabouts. This on-going harassment continues to bring high pressure to his family.

Mr. Wang said that the persecution has lasted for 22 years, but practitioners persist in exposing it. Their perseverance helped more people learn about Falun Gong and the persecution. The CCP’s cover-up of the coronavirus pandemic has helped people see the destructive nature of the CCP, and he feels justice will prevail.

Lilian Li: We Will Persist, No Matter How Long

Lilian Li, once persecuted in China, said the persecution is still severe in China.

Lilian Li, who was once persecuted for her faith in China, said that the persecution remains severe in China. “Falun Gong practitioners are still illegally imprisoned. Even practitioners in their 80s were sentenced to prison for 8 to 10 years. Some practitioners were tortured to death after being detained for less than a month. We will persist in calling for an end to the persecution as long as it does not end.”

Lilian was detained twice and was forced to renounce her faith in China. Her home was ransacked and her personal belongings were stolen. Her blood was forcibly drawn while she was detained. (Note: It is believed that the CCP collects blood samples from practitioners in order to establish a massive DNA and organ matching database.)

She said that the CCP’s propaganda and state-controlled media poisoned Chinese people and people all over the world. She became thoroughly aware of the anti-human nature of the CCP and how it has destroyed traditional Chinese culture, beliefs, and morals.

“That is why we must persist in clarifying the truth to the public rationally and peacefully. So that all people can recognize the nature of the CCP and not be deceived by the CCP’s lies.”

Artist: Applaud Practitioners in China

Kathy Gillis, an artist and Falun Gong practitioner.

Kathleen Gillis, an artist and Falun Gong practitioner said that the CCP is doing everything it can to sustain the persecution, which only harms people and themselves. The world is rapidly recognizing its evilness, so the CCP must know that its end is near.

Ms. Gillis feels it is her responsibility to precisely record the actions of Falun Dafa practitioners, what the CCP did during the persecution, and what the practitioners did to end it. She depicts the persecution with her brush as a painter. She said, “We must document what has happened so that people in the future will know what the CCP did and how the persecution happened. We don’t want this persecution to happen and repeat itself.

“I applaud the courage and endurance of Falun Gong practitioners who experienced hardship in China,” Ms. Gillis said.

Ottawa Residents Support

On the 22nd anniversary of the persecution, 35 Canadian parliamentarians signed a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling for the end of CCP’s persecution and to pass the Magnitsky Act to punish the persecutors. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians in Ottawa also signed a petition to support Falun Gong practitioners in their 22-year protest against persecution.

Julia Pica, who works for the government, said the Chinese people are great, but the CCP is not. The Canadian government should take steps to stop the persecution because the CCP tries to suppress anyone who follows their own beliefs.

Andrei Velorunov from the former Soviet Union: I know what communism does

Andrei Velorunov, who owns his own physical therapy clinic, is from the former Soviet Union. He said, “I’m from the Soviet Union, so I am quite familiar with communists and what they do. In addition to preaching communist ideology and telling lies to brainwash people, they commit crimes every day. Once they take power, they do whatever they want.”

He said the concept of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is precious, and people “just have to implement it in their daily lives.”

Adam J. Lalonde, an entrepreneur, said the message on a banner that says, “Communism’s Goal Is to Destroy the Human Race” struck a chord with him. He said as a Canadian, he believes in the freedom of belief. “I disagree with the communist standpoint. Regardless of where you are, you should be able to believe in your ideology and should be able to share it with others safely.”

As a Christian, he resonates with Falun Gong’s principles’ Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.” He said, “It is very nice and straightforward. I’m a Christian myself. So I agree with it.”

Background: What is Falun Gong?

Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) was first introduced to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China in 1992. The spiritual discipline is now practiced in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. Millions of people have embraced the teachings—which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance as well as five gentle exercises—and experienced uplifted health and well-being.

Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), perceived the spiritual discipline's growing popularity as a threat to the CCP's atheistic ideology and on July 20, 1999, issued an order to ban the practice.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 22 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. More have been imprisoned and tortured for their faith.

There is concrete evidence that the CCP sanctions the harvesting of organs from detained practitioners, who are murdered to supply the organ transplant industry.

Under Jiang's personal direction, the CCP established the 610 Office, an extralegal security organization with the power to override the police and judicial systems and whose sole function is to carry out the persecution of Falun Dafa.