Montreal, Canada: Candlelight Vigil Commemorates Falun Gong Practitioners Who Died in the Persecution

(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners held a candlelight vigil at the Place d’Armes in Montreal, Canada, on the evening of July 19, 2025, to commemorate the practitioners who have died in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution and to call for an end to the 26-year-long brutality.

Candlelight vigil on the evening of July 19 commemorating practitioners who died in the persecution in China

Place d’Armes is a famous tourist attraction in Montreal. Groups of tourists stopped to look at the display boards and listen to Falun Gong practitioners’ speeches. Some people were moved to tears, and many signed a petition to support Falun Gong practitioners’ efforts to end the persecution.

In Chinese, English, and French, practitioners told passersby about the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong.

People sign a petition calling for an end to the persecution.

Falun Gong Practitioner: 26 Years of Protesting the Persecution

Ms. Sun Weihua, who participated in the candlelight vigil, told how her entire family was persecuted for practicing Falun Gong. In July 1999, the CCP launched a full-scale crackdown on the practice. Ms. Sun’s father wasn’t allowed to leave the house. Her brother and sister-in-law were arrested and sent to forced labor camps twice. Her mother was traumatized and suffered from insomnia for years. To seek justice for Falun Gong in 2000, Ms. Sun went to Beijing, where plainclothes officers on Tiananmen Square beat her brutally. In the detention center, the police threatened to rape her and shock her with electric batons.

Ms. Sun said that she wanted to tell people that Falun Dafa is good and to call for help to stop the CCP’s persecution and the state-sanction forced organ harvesting. “The sooner the evil CCP regime collapses, the sooner all the illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners will be freed.” 

Pastor: This Is a Persecution of All People

Pastor Philippe D’Joli

Pastor Philippe D’Joli, who listened to the practitioners speak at the Place d’Armes, said that he knew about the persecution of Falun Gong from the newspapers, but this was the first time he had seen Falun Gong practitioners in person.

“I found that one very important point is that Falun Gong upholds human values, social values, and humanitarian values. This persecution is a persecution of all people. This is not only a problem for Falun Gong, but a problem for all of humanity,” he said.

He said that the world should pay attention to the Falun Gong group, a peaceful group that does not submit to the Chinese communist regime. But the world is indifferent to it. “We must condemn the Chinese Communist Party. We cannot remain silent in the face of all this.”