‘Is a fool’s errand to do what the PRC is trying to do and to suppress a movement that expresses the deepest values of that vast nation,’ said MP Scott Reid.
Long-time parliamentarian and former cabinet minister Judy Sgro said it was divine intervention that helped the rain stop in Ottawa as she and many of her colleagues and Falun Dafa adherents gathered on Parliament Hill on May 8 to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day.
“God has helped us again this afternoon and the rain has stopped,” said Ms. Sgro, a Liberal MP and former minister of citizenship.
Ms. Sgro said she had brought greetings on behalf of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as well as the Liberal caucus for Falun Dafa Day, observed on May 13, on the anniversary of the practice’s founding in 1992.
“Let me continue to applaud your tolerance, your belief in Falun Gong, and the exercise that many, many more Canadians need to do. I thank you for sharing that with us, because it is a way to promote peacefulness within ourselves, but it also promotes peacefulness within our country,” Ms. Sgro told Falun Dafa adherents gathered at the event.
“The more people who practice Falun Gong, the better we are as individuals.”
Falun Gong adherents demonstrate a meditative exercise on Parliament Hill during Falun Dafa Day celebrations on May 8, 2024. (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times)
Liberal MP Judy Sgro speaks during the Falun Dafa Day event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 8, 2024. (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times)Referring to the persecution the practice suffers at the hand of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Ms. Sgro, who is co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong, noted the freedom that people enjoy in Canada and said “we want to make sure it stays that way.”
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“On behalf of my colleagues and the prime minister, please stay strong, know that we are behind you, and that you can count on us to stand together,” she said.
Conservative Party Deputy Leader and MP Mellisa Lantsman noted how Falun Dafa practitioners have responded to the CCP’s persecution campaign with compassion.
“[People] need to see the compassion, the tolerance, the love that is shared by Falun Gong every single day in every single way everywhere,” Ms. Lantsman said.
“And it will not be the bullies in the PRC [People’s Republic of China] that will quash this spirit. It will be just like it is in Canada, that democracy, that the rule of law, that compassion win over the day.”
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a meditation discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, or tolerance. Citing these values, Ms. Lantsman said when the suppression in China ends, Falun Dafa adherents will be there “to teach the world as you always have the values that you practice the values that you hold dear and the values that you must continue to bring to the Parliament Hill every year until that change happens.”
Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman speaks during the Falun Dafa Day event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 8, 2024. (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times)
Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux speaks during the Falun Dafa Day event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 8, 2024. (NTDTV)
Falun Gong adherents demonstrate a meditative exercise on Parliament Hill during Falun Dafa Day celebrations on May 8, 2024. (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times)The Ottawa celebration preceded World Falun Dafa Day on May 13, the birthday of the practice’s founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi. Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux highlighted the broad support of Canadian parliamentarians for the Falun Gong community, and said it’s important to mark this day.
“[Falun Dafa adherents’] contributions today mean a great deal to all parliamentarians of all political parties,” said Mr. Lamoureux, parliamentary secretary to the leader of the government in the House of Commons.
Mr. Lamoureux noted that Falun Dafa adherents have been outspoken against the rights abuses their fellow adherents suffer in China, including forced organ harvesting, and said it’s important to speak out about this issue.
“You raise a very important not only national issue, but an issue that the world faces,” he said.
To celebrate the occasion, Falun Dafa adherents demonstrated the practice’s exercises, put on musical and dance performances, and held a parade downtown near Parliament Hill.
‘Eternal Values’
Falun Dafa, which is rooted in Buddhist and Daoist traditions, features five meditative exercises and moral teachings. It is practised in over 100 countries worldwide, according to FalunInfo.net, a website that provides information about the practice as well as the CCP’s persecution.
First made public in China in May 1992, Falun Dafa quickly gained popularity within the country due to its physical and mental health benefits. By 1999, adherents in China numbered an estimated 70 million to 100 million people, surpassing the 63 million CCP members, according to government records and international reports. According to the NGO Freedom House, Falun Gong’s popularity didn’t sit well with the CCP, especially because its tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance conflicted with the communist ideology.
Conservative MP Scott Reid speaks during the Falun Dafa Day event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 8, 2024. (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times)
Falun Gong adherents demonstrate a meditative exercise on Parliament Hill during Falun Dafa Day celebrations in Ottawa on May 8, 2024. (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times)Conservative MP Scott Reid said that while the CCP’s repression will eventually come to an end, Falun Dafa represents “the eternal values that are at the heart of Chinese culture.”
“Is a fool’s errand to do what the PRC is trying to do and to suppress a movement that expresses the deepest values of that vast nation,” Mr. Reid said. “In the end, [Falun Dafa’s] values will prevail. They will prevail because of the work, the courage of people like yourselves ... who are willing to carry on with their practice, despite this terrible oppression. That cannot be overcome, that will not be overcome.”
“And when the time comes—that the PRC relents or is made to relent—it will be the moment for all of those millions and millions of people in China, to rise up peacefully and to bring back into the public discourse of that great, magnificent, and ancient country, those values which are at the heart of China’s greatness.”
Conservative MP James Bezan, his party’s shadow minister for national defence, thanked Falun Dafa adherents for their values and for “making Canada stronger.”
“Truth, compassion, tolerance—what amazing values and fundamentals, and when you put them together, you have accountability and peace,” he said.
Mr. Bezan, who championed Canada’s Magnitsky Act to sanction those around the world involved in rights abuses, said Canada and other countries should ramp up their sanctions against the CCP.
“Your presence here today reminds all Canadians, especially those of us as lawmakers in Parliament, that we have to stand with you,” he said.
Conservative MP James Bezan speaks during the Falun Dafa Day event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 8, 2024. (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times)
Liberal MP Yvan Baker speaks during the Falun Dafa Day event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 8, 2024. (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times)Liberal MP Yvan Baker said that truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance are values that he thinks all Canadians share.
“We truly value the contributions that practitioners make to their communities, make to my community in Etobicoke Centre, and make to my country,” Mr. Baker said.
He added that it’s important for MPs to speak out for those who are facing persecution.
“We have to keep doing that until the practitioners of Falun Dafa have their rights upheld.”
‘A Movement for Good’
Conservative MP Michael Cooper, his party’s shadow minister for democratic reform, also had high praise for the practice’s values.
“They stand behind the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. These are the principles for good, that are the very antithesis of the communist regime in Beijing,” Mr. Cooper said.
Conservative MP Michael Cooper speaks during the Falun Dafa Day event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 8, 2024. (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times)
Falun Dafa practitioners perform a cultural dance during Falun Dafa Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 7, 2024. (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times)“That is why Falun Dafa practitioners are being persecuted, because they dare stand up for those principles against a brutal and evil regime.”Mr. Cooper said the fact that many people gathered to mark Falun Dafa day, and the fact that so many parliamentarians came out to observe the event, is a testament that Falun Dafa is an “amazing movement.”
“Falun Dafa is a movement for good,” he said.
Garnett Genuis, a Conservative MP and shadow minister for international development, thanked Falun Dafa adherents for their work in “preserving the beauty of China’s traditional Asian culture, something that the communists have sought to distort an destroy.”
“I want to pledge to you my and the Conservative Party’s continuing collaboration and support on the important issues that we have worked together on,” said Mr. Genuis, who is co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong.
Conservative MP Colin Carrie thanked Falun Dafa adherents for holding the event.
“I want to commend you on your commitment to human rights, compassion, and truthfulness,” Mr. Carrie said.
Fellow Tory MP Dan Muys also thanked the practitioners.
“It’s important to speak out for those that are voiceless,” he said.
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