On Aug. 18, 2016, we, five volunteers from Edmonton on a car tour of northern Alberta to raise awareness about a horrendous human rights atrocity in China, were welcomed to the beautiful and kind town of High Prairie by Mayor Linda Cox and Councilor Brian Gilroy.
The car tour initiative is part of a Canada-wide tour to raise awareness about the ongoing crime of state-run organ harvesting from living practitioners of Falun Gong meditation discipline in China, who are killed during the organ removal process.
Greeting and welcoming us to the town, Ms. Cox and Mr. Gilroy expressed their concern for the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China, and the crime of organ pillaging from the adherents of this peaceful meditation discipline by the Chinese regime.
Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) is a traditional spiritual discipline whose adherents follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance.
Today, millions of people in over 114 countries, including Canada, enjoy this peaceful practice and live their lives according to its virtuous teachings.
Falun Gong practitioners are also known worldwide as defenders of freedom of belief inside China.
On July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party lead by former dictator Jiang Zemin ordered an illegal attack on Falun Gong with the mandate to “completely eliminate” the traditional spiritual practice.
This was in reaction to the fact that between 70 and 100 million Chinese people were practicing Falun Gong, which wasn’t controlled by the Party.
Since then, human rights groups, the United Nations, and Western governments have documented the severe abuses and propaganda targeting Falun Gong practitioners in China.
The abuses include the killing of thousands, the imprisonment of millions in labour camps, the torture, and rape cases of tens of thousands, and the destruction of tens of millions of families.
In 2006, an investigative report released by former Edmonton MP and Canadian secretary of state David Kilgour and renowned Canadian human rights lawyer David Matas revealed that Falun Gong prisoners of conscience are being killed to supply China’s lucrative billion-dollar organ trade.
On June 22, 2016, Mr. Kilgour, Mr. Matas, and investigative journalist and China expert Ethan Gutmann published an updated report, showing that the number of victims of this horrendous crime is far higher than originally thought, with the number of transplants taking place in China ranging between 60,000 to 100,000 per year since year 2001.
The researchers estimate that upwards of one million innocent Falun Gong adherents have been killed for this illegal state-sanctioned organ-trafficking practice. This amounts to murder for organs.
Mr. Matas said upon the release of the report: “China is not the only country with organ-transplant abuse. There’s a huge demand for organs, and huge money to be made. What’s different about China is it’s institutionalized, it’s state-run, it’s Party-directed. It’s not a few criminals in back alleys trying to make a fast buck.”
We are participating in this car tour to raise awareness and we call on our fellow Canadians and government officials to take a firm stand on the right side of history — the side of righteousness — and publicly call on the Chinese regime to end the persecution of Falun Gong.
All Canadians can help by raising awareness about this persecution with their family and friends, and writing to their MPs and MLAs asking for their support in urging China to stop their crimes against humanity.
Later in August, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be visiting China for the G20 summit, and Canadians can ask Mr. Trudeau to use this opportunity to pressure China to stop organ pillaging from innocent Falun Gong adherents and end the persecution against this peaceful group and other prisoners of conscience.
It’s time for all of us to take a stand and bring this horrible crime against humanity to an end.
Minnan Liu, Ph.D, P.Eng
Volunteer with the SOS Falun Gong Car Tour