Friends Of Falun Gong Association of Canada Writes to Canadian Prime Minister

Attention: Rt. Hon. Jean Chretien
Prime Minister Of Canada
309-S Centennial Building
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

September 24, 2002

Dear Prime Minister:

We would like to express our most profound gratitude to you and to the members of the Canadian government who have acted with such courage and candor to insist the Chinese regime release illegally detained practitioners of Falun Gong. The list continues to grow. Until only early September Ms. Yanying Wu, the sister of a Canadian resident, languished in a forced labour camp enduring unspeakable forms of torture while a state-run media website continued to run a story saying that she had renounced her practice and had become rich as a grape farmer. We believe that through the goodwill of many Canadian people and the efforts of members of the Canadian government that today she enjoys a measure of the freedom that is rightfully hers, as it is proscribed by the Chinese constitution.

We understand that you will meet President George Bush in early October. Later in that month many leaders from around the world will gather in Mexico, as will the head of the PRC. Could you set aside a brief period of time to discuss the matter of China's failure to live up to its international obligations with respect to human rights? This is a most urgent concern as people are being tortured to death daily. If together you were to decide to speak publicly about this most egregious issue, it would have a profound and lasting effect. Those who do wrong will be shamed, while the great many people who are oppressed by those state terrorists will be morally strengthened.

Many years from now we know that people will look back at this time differently than the way we look at issues today. The opportunities and pressures that exist while one is in the midst of making decisions of vast import will not cloud their judgment. They will judge truth and justice with far more candor than we are able to today. As they are our children we should try our best to earn their respect, and we should try to pass onto them the very best things that we can. It is largely for this reason that Falun Gong practitioners in China refuse to renounce their belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. What kind of future could there be in China if these principles cease to be valued?

We hope that you will take this most difficult step of publicly condemning the persecution of Falun Gong by the head of the PRC. Further, we sincerely ask you to take the opportunity when meeting with President Bush to discuss the international obligations of the Chinese, and how together you can have a profound impact in a way that will in a sense let this 'iceberg roll', allowing the old rotten principles of persecution on top to disappear and be replaced by virtuous principles of dignity and compassion. There are many in China who have never accepted the persecution. By fortifying them and by lifting them up morally you will provide the greatest gift to the children of humanity that will follow us.

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Yours Most Sincerely,

Joel Etienne David Tompkins
Co-Chairman Communications Director
Friends of Falun Gong

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