TORONTO, August 12 -- This past weekend, Toronto practitioners began a signature campaign calling on the public to help release ten family members of eight Toronto practitioners (and 14 family members of 12 Canadians) who are being persecuted in Chinese prisons and labour camps for their belief in Dafa. Thousands of people were able to know more about the truth of Falun Gong and the ongoing brutal persecution in China in a short period of time.
On Sunday August 11, between 1-4 pm, over 30 practitioners gathered in front of Toronto's City Hall, demonstrating Falun Gong exercises, collecting petition signatures, and sharing the truth about Falun Gong with passersby. Banners, display boards, flyers and the peaceful exercise demonstration attracted tourists from Mainland China, Mexico, Jordan, Italy, South Korea and from other parts of Canada, etc.
Within only a few hours, over 740 signatures were collected. Some passersby stayed and talked for a long time with practitioners and many others took the flyers.
Many did not realize the number of local practitioners whose loved ones were imprisoned in China. In addition, more than ten Toronto practitioners had themselves been detained and abused in China because they are Dafa practitioners. The practitioners decided that, through these practitioners' cases, they must do more to fully expose the evil of Jiang's regime and how its persecution has even damaged the lives of Canadian people so directly. They must also appeal for Canadians help to release all of these family members and to stop the ongoing persecution in China.
Among Canadian practitioners' family members, one has been missing for half a year and thirteen are still in prisons or labour camps. Another two Canadians' family members have been persecuted to death in the persecution.
Imprisoned in Toronto's Sister Cities
There are five family members of four Toronto practitioners who are now being detained in Toronto's Sister Cities in China, Tianjin and Shenyang. Among them is Ms. Bo Li's mother, a retired award-winning high school teacher. She is now held in the notorious Masanjia labour camp in Shenyang City. Toronto also has Sister City relationships with Chongqing, Wuxi and Nanjing.
Canadian permanent resident Li Zhang's husband Lizhi He is a nationally-acclaimed Structural Engineer and winner of the Gold Medal Prize for National Outstanding Engineering Design. He is serving 3 1/2 years in prison in the suburb of Tianjin City, another sister city of Toronto, because he wrote letters to friends about Falun Gong. Last month, Amnesty International began a letter writing campaign to help free Lizhi.
100,000 Signatures
Last summer, SOS walkers from Toronto and Montreal delivered over 100,000 signatures from Canadians to the Prime Minister's office in Ottawa calling for help to stop the persecution of Falun Gong.
Soon after, at the October 2001 APEC meeting held in Shanghai, the Canadian Prime Minister personally raised the Falun Gong issue with the Chinese president, as reported by VOA.
The signatures from concerned Canadians also encouraged the Canadian Government to help obtain the releases of Canadian citizen Professor Kunlun Zhang, Canadian resident and student Ms. Zhu Ying and Mr. Shenli Lin, the husband of Canadian Jinyu Li.
In the process, many kind-hearted Canadian people got to know the truth about Dafa and express their support, creating a wonderful future for themselves.
At the signature collection event, two young Caucasian men from out of town stopped at the display. They read all of the display boards, watched our exercise demonstration and talked for a long time with some practitioners. They said that they could not believe that practitioners are facing such brutal persecution in China. They wanted to do more in addition to signing the petition.
They searched their bags and found three oranges. They placed them orderly on a small display table besides the flyers and left.
Local media interviewed Ms. Li Zhang and Mr. Shenli Lin who traveled from Montreal to attend the activity. Mr. Lin was released and reunited with his wife in Canada with the help of the Canadian government and many kind hearted people. However, Shenli's brother, Mingli Lin, is now held in the same labour camp as Shenli was for practicing Falun Gong.