Letter to Falun Gong Practitioner from Canada's Minister of Industry
June 25, 2002 Dear __________ (name omitted to avoid harassment by the Chinese embassy):
Thank you for your letter of May 8, 2002 regarding the Falun Dafa Week
celebrations. I sincerely regret the delay in responding to your concerns.
Please accept my congratulations on the celebration of Falun Gong's tenth
anniversary. I hope the week's events were enjoyed by all of your members and
Falun Gong practitioners across Canada.
With respect to the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Let me
say that Canada regularly registers its concerns about human rights abuses in
China. The Government of Canada uses numerous channels by which we make known
our opposition to the persecution, including meetings with senior Chinese
leaders and regular dialogue with Chinese officials. On such occasions, Canadian
officials raise with the Chinese government cases of Chinese individuals
imprisoned as a result of political or religious reasons.
In addition, we regularly convey our concerns to China about the suppression
and treatment, while under arrest, of Falun Gong practitioners, and we have
underlined the concern felt by many Canadians regarding reports of death in
re-education camps. Canadian Falun Gong practitioners meet regularly with
officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade regarding
the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien intervened strongly on human rights during his
Team Canada visit to China in February 2001 and again raised Canadian human
rights concerns during his visit to Shanghai in October 2001.
Canada thrives as a nation because of our multicultural identity, and the
diversity of religions and cultures of our people. Underlying the existence of
these different cultures and religious practices is the ability, enshrined in
the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to practice them free from
persecution.
Once again, thank you for having taken the time to contact me, and please
convey my best wishes to all of those involved in the Falun Dafa Association of
Canada
Yours very truly,
Allan Rock
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