Ottawa, Canada: Rally to Protest Organ Harvesting Atrocities in China

(Minghui.org) The Canadian Parliament voted to pass Bill S-223 to combat illegal organ harvesting and human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal on December 14, 2022. Falun Gong practitioners gathered on Parliament Hill and in front of the Chinese Embassy to peacefully protest the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) live organ harvesting atrocities.

Practitioners peacefully protest the CCP’s live organ harvesting in front of Parliament Hill on December 14, 2022.Garnett Genuis and Arnold Viersen (rear row), Members of Parliament, take a group photo with practitioners during their protest in front of the Chinese Embassy. 

David Matas: Jiang Zemin Is the Initiator and Leader the Massacre of Falun Gong Practitioners 

The Canadian House of Commons unanimously passed Bill S-223 combating illegal human organ harvesting and trafficking with 324 votes. 

International human rights lawyer David Matas, who has researched the Chinese regime’s organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners, said the passage of the legislation was important.

“Stopping organ harvesting would mean that innocents would cease to be killed for their organs. There are many victims of this abuse.” 

Matas recently told the media that Jiang Zemin was the initiator and leader of the massacre of Falun Gong practitioners. “The death of former CCP leader Jiang Zemin reminds us of his important role in the mass killing of prisoners of conscience for their organs.”

“With the mass, arbitrary, indefinite detention of demonized Falun Gong practitioners, hospitals found a source of organs — Falun Gong practitioners’ organs,” Matas said. The hospital system quickly realized that the Falun Gong population in arbitrary, indefinite detention is so high that the sale of their organs could become a lucrative global business.

He also said that for the health system, the industrialization of organ sales became addictive. New organs are constantly needed to keep the machine running. The scale of organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners has become very large. As Uyghurs in Xinjiang are detained on a large scale, their organs also became a source for transplants.

He said that hospitals and brokers began advertising around the world in multiple languages that organs were available on demand.

American neurologist Alejandro Centurion stated at the Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH) meeting on June 9, “From the beginning of 2000, (Chinese) organ transplantation began to grow exponentially.” 

According to the data from DAFOH, from 1999 to 2004, the number of organ transplants in China increased by about 300%, while the global increase in the same period was only 10% to 15%. The number of organ transplants in China grew 20 times faster than the rest of the world.

Matas said that although Jiang was dead and it was too late to bring him to justice, it would never be too late to remember the crimes he committed.

Victims Testify

Practitioners gathered on Parliament Hill and in front of the Chinese embassy that day to protest the organ harvesting. Three practitioners described the persecution they and their families suffered because of they practice Falun Gong.

Ms. Wang Jinju, a veteran basketball player, and her three sisters were arrested and imprisoned. Ms. Wang said that her sister Wang Jinliang was tortured for not giving up her belief when she was imprisoned in Shandong Women’s Prison. She was given a physical examination and blood test. Ms. Wang suspected that the prison was preparing her for organ harvesting.

Liu Mingyuan, who is studying in Canada, spoke at the rally and described how her mother Liu Yan, is suffering while she’s imprisoned by the CCP for practicing Falun Gong.

She said that her mother was sentenced to three years in prison in 2015. On September 30, 2021, her mother was again abducted by the National Security Brigade of the Kunming Public Security Bureau and her home was ransacked. She was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on April 1, 2022.

Ms. Liu stated that during her imprisonment, her mother underwent multiple medical examinations and blood tests.

Tiffany Ding was abducted by the police in the spring of 2003 and incarcerated in a forced labor camp for one year. “In the labor camp, I was subjected to all kinds of mental and physical torture. The most cruel thing was deprivation of sleep, being made to stand for hours, and making slave labor products in a harsh environment.”

She witnessed how several practitioners died either due to long hours of excessive physical labor or torture.

Ms. Ding said that the atrocities were confirmed by the independent China Tribunal, and the atrocities are still happening in China today. The successful passage of Bill S-223 bill in Canada is a major event, and it will prevent Canadians from becoming accomplices in the CCP’s crime of organ harvesting. It has profound meaning for Canada and the whole world.

Legislation Path of 15 Years

Several Members of Parliament previously proposed similar legislation against live organ harvesting, including Borys Wrzesnewskyj, former Liberal MP, in 2008, Irwin Cotler, former Minister of Justice and Liberal MP, in 2013, and Conservative Senator Atau Rajan and Conservative Garnett Genuis MP in 2017. Even with support from all political parties at the time, none of these bills went through the full approval process before their respective parliamentary sessions ended. 

Matas confirmed that countries with relevant legislation currently include Albania, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Israel, Italy, South Korea, Taiwan and the U.K.

Background: What Is Falun Dafa and Why Is the CCP Persecuting It?

Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) 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 who have embraced the teachings, which are based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and have learned the five exercises, have experienced improved 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, he issued an order to eradicate the practice.

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.

Minghui.org has confirmed the deaths of thousands of practitioners as a result of the persecution over the past 23 years. The actual number is believed to be much higher. Countless practitioners 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 China’s organ transplant industry.