Practitioner Mom to Canadian Prime Minister: Please Sponsor Human Rights Resolution in Geneva!
March 21, 2002 The Right Honorable
Jean Chretien Prime Minister of
Canada House of Commons E-Mail: pm@pm.gc.ca CC: Foreign Affairs
Minister Bill Graham E-Mail: bill.graham@dfait-maeci.gc.ca Graham.B@parl.gc.ca Dear Prime Minister: I am writing to let you know my thoughts regarding your
comments, as elected officials of Canada, whose job is to act on human rights
issues and who represent Canada as a whole, but state you will not initiate a
resolution condemning China's human rights abuses. Nancy Bergeron mentioned that Canadian Officials have
regularly spoken out on the rights situation in China on other occasions
including meeting with Chinese leaders. I would like to point out that in spite
of this effort, China's human rights record worsened. My thoughts are that more
needs to done. We welcomed China into the World Trade Organization and are
allowing them to host the next Olympics. When Human Rights Organizations
questioned if this should be allowed with China's poor human rights record, it
has been said that this would encourage China to improve its human rights
record, yet their record continues to worsen. My thoughts are, yes the world needs China but China also
needs the world. By not taking the next step to let them know how we feel about
their poor human rights record, what dangerous messages are we sending them? My son and daughter have been practicing Falun Dafa for over
three years. When they first started to practice I checked into its teachings
and learned the exercises so that I knew what they were getting into. Falun Dafa
has improved all three of our lives both physically and mentally. This is not
the issue though--whether Falun Dafa is something that interests you or not, it
is strictly a human rights issue--the right of an individual to choose his
practice and beliefs. My children, along with many other Falun Dafa practitioners
have only used peaceful means of appeal, sometimes at great risk to their
personal safety, in order to inform people of the current crisis and to let
people know the true nature of this practice. My son was in China this past February in an effort to reach
the everyday Chinese people and clarify the truth to them, so that they would
not continue to participate in this persecution, initiated by their president,
against their own citizens who practice the principles of Truthfulness,
Compassion and Tolerance. Jason was mistreated, detained for twenty-seven hours
and deported. The Chinese government has violated their own constitution. I disagreed with Jason going to China, because I felt it was
too dangerous. I felt he should allow our government to do its job for him to
give them support in anyway possible. As a Canadian and a mother I ask that our government take the
important step to condemn China's human rights abuses with a resolution in
Geneva this year, which will benefit both China and our world, including Canada. You have our nation's support. If such obvious abuses are
allowed to continue without international reprimand, how could I explain this to
my children? Yours truly, Mary L. (Last name omitted by editor)
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