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Canadian Members of Parliament Discussed Falun Gong Many Times in 2003
(Clearwisdom.net) During the past four years, Canadian Parliament
members have discussed Falun Gong many times. They have shown their support for
Falun Gong practitioners and stood up for an end to the persecution. The most
notable dialogue was on February 28, 2003, which lasted about 50 minutes1:
In addition, member of Parliament Scott Reid (Lanark-Carleton, Canadian
Alliance) initiated Motion No. 236 in October 2003 on behalf of Falun Gong
practitioners. The following is a summary of the discussions about Falun Gong in
the Canadian Parliament during the past year. Please refer to the Parliament
Archive on the Internet for relevant English materials. [Please see the links
following this article.] On February 21, 2003, Canadian member of Parliament Val Meredith (South
Surrey-White Rock-Langley, Canadian Alliance) read a letter from one of her
constituents. The letter called upon Parliament to initiate a resolution with
the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, taking a stand against the Jiang
regime's persecution of Falun Gong. In the letter were also three requests to
China's government: to immediately stop the persecution of Falun Gong
practitioners; to unconditionally release all Falun Gong practitioners
imprisoned for their beliefs, including 15 imprisoned family members of
Canadians; and to allow the United Nations rapporteur on torture to carry out
independent, third-party investigations of the persecution of Falun Gong
practitioners within China, with unrestricted access. The same day, another Parliament member, Mr. Deepak Obhrai (Calgary East,
Canadian Alliance), asked the Canadian government to express serious concern
about the persecution of Falun Gong to a visiting Chinese Religious Delegation,
and to appeal to the Chinese government to stop the human rights violations and
the persecution In March 2003, Parliament discussed and recognized the technical issues
concerning member of Parliament Robert Ander's cosignature initiative. He had
asked his colleagues to cosign a letter asking Canada to initiate a resolution
in United Nations Commission on Human Rights to condemn Jiang Zemin's regime's
persecution of Falun Gong. More than 30 Parliament members cosigned the letter. On May 16, 2003, member of Parliament Svend Robinson (Burnaby-Douglas, NDP)
read a petition letter to rescue Falun Gong practitioners5. The
letter stated that the relatives of Ms. Zhang Tianxiao of Vancouver were
severely persecuted because they practiced Falun Gong. On June 9, 2003, Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP) read letters from
some of her constituents,5 asking Canada to appeal for a stop to the
persecution; an unconditional release of all Falun Gong practitioners,
unrestricted access into China for the United Nations rapporteur on torture and
to investigate the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. On October 6, 2003, member of Parliament Alan Tonks (York South-Weston, Lib.)
read a petition letter asking the Canadian Parliament to initiate a resolution
at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights that calls for the Chinese
government to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners and to free all Falun
Gong practitioners imprisoned in China. On October 10, 2003, member of Parliament Scott Reid raised the matter of
Falun Gong twice before the Asia Pacific Economic Conference8. Mr.
Reid said: One year ago, the Canadian Parliament had used a resolution to ask the
prime minister to ask the Chinese President to release the 13 relatives of
Canadian Falun Gong practitioners. The resolution has generated a positive
effect. During the past year, eight of those 13 have been released. Those
practitioners are all model citizens. But on the other hand, the situation is
getting even worse. Seventeen relatives of Canadian Falun Gong practitioners
are still detained. So, I here raise the issue again; I hope that the prime
minister would mention this issue at this year's APEC, and to allow them to
come to Canada to be with their loved ones. During 2003, the most notable event was a February 28, 2003 discussion, which
lasted about 50 minutes1, regarding Motion No.236, which had been
introduced by Scott Reid that past October2. Many members of
Parliament from different parties spoke out to condemn the persecution of
innocent practitioners of Falun Gong and praised the principles of "Truth,
Compassion and Tolerance." They asked Canada to supply special visas to
rescue practitioners, and pointed out that Canada has a responsibility to help
end the persecution. In the discussion, Mr. Reid made a speech that was close to 20 minutes. He
pointed out that Motion No.236 had passed unanimously, with 300 Parliament
members in attendance. Such an occurrence is rare. This resolution has helped
persecuted Falun Gong practitioners. For example, several Falun Gong
practitioners' relatives have been released, including photographer Qiu Bo and
aerospace engineer Yang Yueli. Canadian diplomats in China played an active
role; they mailed New Year's greeting cards to the detained practitioners, which
showed that they were not forgotten by the Canadian government. Mr. Reid also noted the important role Canadian diplomats and the immigration
minister had in the rescue of Ms. Wang Yuzhi. He emphasized that the ways to
guarantee the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners are to be vigilant, to
raise this issue with the Chinese government, to show their concern and to be
prepared to offer special visas to the persecuted, enabling them to become
assets of Canadian society. Finally, he reminded his colleagues that the
persecution is still going on, giving examples: Ms. Zhang Tianxiao's relative
has died from persecution, and Mr. Zhang Yunhe still being imprisoned. As he has
stated previously, Mr. Reid mentioned that practitioners of Falun Gong
practitioners are beneficial to China, so he believes that the Falun Gong
practitioners rescued with Canadian special visas will be beneficial to Canada. Member of Parliament Aileen Carroll (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Lib.) said that Canada has been paying attention to the
human rights violations in China. She also said that human rights could not be
sacrificed for trade. Member of Parliament Stephane Bergeron (Vercheres-Les-Patriotes, BQ) made a
speech. First, he thanked Mr. Reid for drawing the House's attention to the very
disturbing situation of Falun Gong practitioners in China. He said: Through the special cases listed today, we gained awareness of the
dangerous situation of Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong brings
"Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" to the world, so to let people
getting close to the nature of universe and be harmonious. The reason behind
Jiang Zemin's regime's persecution of Falun Gong is worth noticing. They took
Falun Gong as a religious movement, and as it's well known, communist
countries have been persecuting all forms of religious movements. Then, new democratic member of Parliament Wendy Lill (Dartmouth, NDP) pointed
out that on March 14, 2002, four Swiss citizens and twelve Hong King citizens
were assaulted and arrested by police while peaceful appealing outside the
Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong. They were appealing to raise awareness of
Jiang's escalating persecution of Falun Gong. Hong Kong law states that if
number of demonstrators is less than fifty, no permit is needed for a gathering.
As video evidence clearly attests, the demonstration was small, unobtrusive and
completely non-violent, yet the police used violence to disrupt the event and
abduct the participants. She also said that during the prior week four more deaths were reported. One
was a 37-year-old woman who had been arrested for distributing New Year's
greeting cards with the words "Truth, Compassion and Tolerance"
written on them. Her husband was not informed of her death until 10 days later. Amnesty International and The Human Rights Watch reported that many thousands
of Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured, murdered, raped, forced to have
abortions and arbitrarily imprisoned in psychiatric facilities, labor camps and
penitentiaries. Furthermore, the central government of the People's Republic of
China has been conducting a massive public campaign to breed hatred and
discrimination against Falun Gong practitioners. Member of Parliament Lil said: I cannot think of any reason that any human being should be subjected to
the kind of abuse that the Chinese government has put upon the Falun Gong. The
persecution of the Falun Gong violates China's own constitution as well as the
international covenant on civil and political rights and the universal
declaration of human rights. China is a signatory to both.The Chinese efforts
to persecute the Falun Gong go beyond the Chinese borders. In Canada,
adherents have been victims of death threats, vandalism, harassment,
cyber-attacks and other forms of intimidation and discrimination. Falun Gong
related websites were hacked. I think in this case Canada has a responsibility
to encourage the Chinese government to stop these attacks and respect
international law. In July 2002, the U.S. Congress a passed a resolution that urged the Chinese
central government to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, domestically
and internationally, and to release all imprisoned practitioners, respecting
international human rights laws. Canadian protests also do make a difference, as
Canadian Lin Shengli was recently rescued. In her summation, Ms. Wendy Lill added, "I raise both of my hands to
support this resolution. Canada has the responsibility to end all of this." The last speaker was Freedom Party member of Parliament Irwin Cotler (Mount
Royal, Lib.) He gladly supported Mr. Reid's motion. He summarized the
persecution of Falun Gong in one sentence, "to declare innocent people
guilty, to intimidate, harass, arrest, detain, interrogate, torture and jail
people who believe in the Chinese, as well as universal, value of
"Truth-Compassion-Tolerance." He also said: We are encouraged by the release of some of these relatives, but I wanted
to point out that they should not be persecuted at all. We should realize that
not only innocent Falun Gong practitioners are arrested, all people's
consciences have been persecuted. We should pay attention to the fact that the
persecution of Falun Gong is still escalating, and should appeal to the
Chinese officers to stop the persecution immediately. References: links to documentation of Canadian Parliament discussions about
Falun Gong: 1. 2.http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/2/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/015_2002-10-25/han015_1100-E.htm#SOB-309069 3.http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/2/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/065_2003-02-21/han065_1240-E.htm#SOBQ 4.http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/2/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/065_2003-02-21/ques065-E.htm#Int-435297 5.http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/2/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/104_2003-05-16/han104_1210-E.htm#Int-557446 6.http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/2/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/114_2003-06-09/han114_1515-E.htm#Int-594571 7.http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/2/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/134_2003-10-06/han134_1515-E.htm#Int-708047 8.http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/2/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/138_2003-10-10/han138_1100-E.htm#SOB-720791
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