MPs Urge China to Release Canadian Falun Gong Practitioner, Family Members of Citizens

The MPs who presented the petition highlighted the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) systemic use of torture, live organ harvesting, forced labour, and various other forms of abuse to suppress members of the spiritual discipline, and called for an end to the persecution campaign against Falun Gong.
Initially, 13 Conservative MPs were scheduled to present the petition, but only eight were available on Oct. 30: Cathay Wagantall, Larry Brock, Damien Kurek, Scott Reid, Brad Vis, Jeremy Patzer, Tako Van Popta, and Marc Dalton.
Five other Conservative MPs—Garnett Genuis, James Bezan, Greg McLean, Tom Kmiec, and Dave Epp—supported the petition but were unable to be present in the House on Oct. 30 due to time constraints.
Wagantall said the CCP views religions as a threat to its atheist ideology and has specifically targeted Falun Gong, perceiving its popularity in China as a challenge to the regime’s authoritarian rule.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is rooted in Buddhist traditions and involves meditative exercises and moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.
Following its introduction in 1992, Falun Gong gained widespread recognition for its health benefits, attracting an estimated 70 million to 100 million practitioners by the end of the decade.
In July 1999, the Beijing regime launched a campaign of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners, resulting in the suppression of Chinese citizens “in the thousands, and perhaps even millions,” Wagantall said. She highlighted the case of Yunhe Zhang, who was arbitrarily detained by Chinese authorities in February 2002 and has not been heard from since.
Zhang’s sister, Tianxiao, who lives in Toronto, said the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners has had a “catastrophic impact” on countless families in China and should serve as a stark reminder in human history.
“Numerous Falun Gong practitioners, many of whom are unknown by name, have died and had their organs harvested due to the CCP’s persecution, which is a tragedy for both China and the world,” she said in Mandarin in an interview with NTD Television, a sister company of The Epoch Times.
“I hope that one day, when the CCP’s crimes are recorded in history, it will remind future generations to never again allow the existence of such a regime.”
“As Canadians, [we have a] responsibility to do something about it,” Kurek said.
Many Falun Gong practitioners with ties to Canada have been detained while trying to raise awareness in China about the CCP’s persecution campaign. Other persecuted groups include Christians, Uyghurs, Tibetans, human rights advocates, and democracy activists.
Recent cases include Mingguang Xie, father of Regina resident Xingxing Xie, who was abducted from his home by Chinese police in February of this year and is now detained in Lichuan Detention Center in Hubei Province. Xie previously spent three years in prison in 2002, during which he was reportedly tortured.
Other recent cases include Shuang Sun, cousin of Wenli Sun, a refugee living in Vancouver. Sun was detained on Nov. 23, 2023.
Fengyun Yao, the aunt of Calgary resident Helen Yao, received a four-year prison sentence in 2020 for practising Falun Gong, which was recently extended by six months. Yao has already been imprisoned for her faith four times, Minghui reported.