(Minghui.org) On the morning of May 13, 2024, Mayor Justin Towndale of the City of Cornwall, Ontario, Canada presided over a flag-raising ceremony in front of the city hall to mark the 32nd anniversary of Falun Dafa’s public introduction. The Falun Dafa Day flag flew over Cornwall City Hall for a week.
A flag-raising ceremony was held in front of the Cornwall City Hall to mark the 32nd anniversary of Falun Dafa’s public introduction on the morning of May 13, 2024.
Mayor Justin Towndale presided over the flag-raising ceremony.
Mayor Towndale said that the principles of Falun Dafa, Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, can be applied to daily life. Everyone should follow them. Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are very solid virtues. Hopefully these virtues will become a focus in the community and the values will be passed on to the next generation, including their children.
In China, the persecution of Falun Gong has continued for nearly 25 years, and countless Falun Gong practitioners have suffered unfair treatment. He said to those Falun Gong practitioners: “Please stay strong. Remember you are always in our thoughts and prayers. The whole world is watching this situation and so are we in Cornwall. We believe all lives are sacred and everyone should be treated with due respect.”
The City of Cornwall Proclaims May 13, 2024 Falun Dafa Day
Proclamation from the City of Cornwall
This year is the eleventh year that the City of Cornwall has praised Falun Dafa, and the third year that the flag has been raised in front of the city hall.
Before the flag-raising ceremony, the mayor read the proclamation which was unanimously passed by the Cornwall City Council.
Local Residents Commend Falun Dafa
Joan Rupram said Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are important values.
Joan Rupram is co-founder of the Fresh Water Society. She just arrived in Cornwall from Toronto. On the day of the flag-raising, she said, “These are great principles that are worthy of us sitting down, reflecting, meditating, and using them to contribute to society. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance provides us with values that we can follow and helps us see situations clearly, so I think these principles are very beneficial for building character, building a nation, and developing strong communities, and those values create good people.”
Joan Rupram said that promoting the principle of kindness is crucial in this moment. Our communities and societies desperately need more kindness in today’s interactions. “Therefore, I am happy to see kindness become one of the principles of encouragement and celebration. I am very pleased with this and look forward to browsing the Falun Dafa website to learn more about this practice and its values and integrate them into our community.”
When she heard that Falun Gong is persecuted in China, Joan Rupram said, “What I want to say to the Chinese people is to encourage them to continue to cultivate these principles and values to build a strong community in the current environment. Let this power pass on from generation to generation, I believe that it is the power of the people that can truly change a country, to cultivate strength in their hearts and envision a better future for their children and future generations.”
Fred Roberts said the world needs more truth and compassion.
Cornwall resident Fred Roberts said, “I believe what the world needs more is truth, compassion and transparency to people. We should be more open, to help others.”
“Anything that helps people is a good thing,” he said. “Because there is so much pain and disaster and war in the world, it’s crazy that people forget that we are all on the same planet. No matter what race you are, we are all human beings. We all belong to the human family, and this should be our consensus.”
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