(Clearwisdom.net) Since the end of July, Falun Dafa practitioners in Toronto have begun a campaign to collect signatures, appealing to the whole society to help rescue imprisoned family members in China who are being tortured for their belief in "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance."

From 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on August 11, some practitioners collected signatures in front of City Hall and told people the facts of the persecution of Falun Dafa in China. Two young men said after they learned the truth, "We can hardly imagine that practitioners are suffering from such cruel persecution in China. We'd like to offer more than just our signature."

One of the participants said, "I can hardly believe that in Toronto alone there are 8 Falun Dafa practitioners with 10 relatives imprisoned simply because they pursue Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, and that dozens more had experienced this persecution themselves while in China. We must call on society to rescue them. We must let the Canadian people, the Canadian government and the society know this."

During the signature collecting activity, members of the media interviewed Ms. Zhang Li and Mr. Li Shenli, who especially came from Montreal to take part in the activity. Zhang Li's husband Mr. He Lizhi, a prominent senior engineer, was illegally sentenced to three and half years in jail. Mr. He is still being held in a prison in the outskirts of Tianjin, one of Toronto's sister cities. Mr. Lin Shenli's younger brother Lin Mingli is still being illegally held in a labor camp in China for practicing Falun Gong. With the help of the Canadian government and kind-hearted Canadian people, Mr. Lin Shenli was released earlier this year and came back to Canada to be united with his wife.

As far as we know, 15 family members of 12 Canadian citizens or residents are suffering from persecution in either a Chinese jail or labor camp. Two family members have been tortured to death, and one has been missing for more than 6 months. Five practitioners have their relatives being held in Tianjin, Toronto's sister city. Li Bo's mother, a retired high school teacher, is being imprisoned in the notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning province.

By appealing publicly, Canada has rescued three Falun Dafa practitioners -- Professor Zhang Kunlun, Ms. Zhu Ying and Mr. Lin Shenli, who had also been imprisoned for their belief in "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance."

Last summer, some Falun Dafa practitioners in Canada walked from Toronto to Ottawa. On their way they collected more than 100,000 signatures calling on China to stop persecuting Falun Dafa, and then handed them in to the Prime Minister's office. Last October, the Canadian Prime Minister raised the question of the persecution of Falun Dafa with the Chinese dictator Jiang and expressed his concern about the issue.

Posting date: 8/25/2002
Original article date: 8/24/2002
Category: Falun Dafa Worldwide
Translated on 8/18/2002
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.cc/mh/articles/2002/8/14/34812.html

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