(Clearwisdom.net May 20, 2003) On May 18, 2003, the annual Tulip Festival Flower Boat Parade took place in Dow's Lake Park. To celebrate the 11^th anniversary of Falun Dafa's introduction to the public and the fourth Falun Dafa Day, and to let more people know about Falun Dafa, Ottawa and Montreal area Dafa practitioners participated in the boat parade.

The Flower Boat Parade is one of the most wonderful activities of the Tulip Festival. Today, along the over ten kilometer long Rideau Canal, thousands of visitors arrived in early morning. More than 30 decorated flower boats were launched from Dow's Lake and slowly sailed long the Rideau Canal. The spectators along the two shores gave bursts of cheers and applause.

The boat hung with large banners of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" and "Falun Dafa" in both English and Chinese was quite eye-catching. On the boat, Dafa practitioners from Ottawa and Montreal in yellow exercise suits performed the five sets of exercises, while young practitioners waved at the visitors. The people along the shores waved back and applauded to show their appreciation.

This is the third time that Falun Gong practitioners have participated in this community event. Three years ago, when Chinese visitors saw the Falun Dafa boat, they were both puzzled and surprised. As the truth of Falun Dafa gradually dawned on them, the local Chinese are changing their minds too. Last year, the local Chinese residents began to smile at the Falun Dafa boat. This year, many of them applauded and cheered like the other spectators. Several Chinese residents even followed the practitioners' movements along with the others.

The sounds of the song "We came for you" drifted over Dow's lake. This is the common wish of all practitioners: we hope that everyone will know the truth of Falun Dafa, so that they will have a beautiful future.

Posting date: 5/21/2003
Original article date: 5/20/2003
Category: Falun Dafa Worldwide
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.cc/mh/articles/2003/5/20/50721.html

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