(Clearwisdom.net) On one Monday morning in April this year, a person from the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission (AHRCC) called me, telling me that Alberta International and Intergovernmental Relations agreed to give me a formal apology apart from economic compensation. Thus, the case of my complaint, as a Falun Gong practitioner, against Alberta Municipal Affairs and Alberta International and Intergovernmental Relations for dismissing me from my job for being a Falun Gong practitioner came to an end. The whole process lasted several months. I am glad to see these officials knew the truth and have made the right choice. While the sentient beings got to know the truth, I also improved in my cultivation. Now I'd like to share my experience with you.
Details of the Incident
I came to Edmonton, Canada at the end of August 2002. In October, a friend introduced me to the Alberta government to work as an interpreter for a training program for Chinese officials from Heilongjiang Province. The program included a one-month (divided into two sessions in October and November respectively) internship in the Alberta government. I was assigned to be an interpreter for a group of six Chinese officials.
During the lunch break of the second day of work, the Deputy Mayor of Daqing City mentioned Falun Gong and spread lies to me, viciously slandering Dafa and Master. I stopped him and clarified the truth to him. When he realized that I was Falun Gong practitioner, he stopped talking to me, but went over to talk with a Canadian official, spreading lies and hate propaganda to him. I stopped him after I realized that and clarified the truth about Falun Gong to both Canadian and Chinese officials present. A couple of days later, also at a lunch break right after their presentation that morning, the two Canadian officials and I were chatting. I mentioned the issue of Falun Gong to them, and I gave them a post card for rescuing family members to sign and an English newspaper about Falun Gong to read. They passed it on to the relevant officials. On that afternoon, an official wanted to talk to me. She looked very nervous, telling me that I should not talk with the Canadian officials about sensitive topics such as Falun Gong at work. She said they did not want any international incident to happen and hoped that I knew these rules since they would hire me for the second session too.
Thinking of those Chinese officials who were poisoned by lies and who would spread these lies to poison others, thinking of those Canadian officials who did not know the truth and who were so nervous because of the pressure, I decided to write a letter to the Canadian officials after the first session was done. I wanted to tell them the facts about Falun Gong and persecution of Falun Gong in China. One week after I sent out the email letter, I called the official who talked to me, asking about reimbursement of my taxi cost. Because she did not receive the mail, she was very upset about the fact that I wrote a letter to other Canadian officials without including her. I explained to her that it was because there was an error on her email account. She said that I was trying to avoid her and that she was very disappointed since she thought I did not keep my promise. After hearing all of this, I felt the difficulty of clarifying the truth to the Canadian officials, even though I did not have the kind of fear that I had in China. This was the first tough situation I came across in Canada. Feeling a bit discouraged and disappointed too, I thought in my heart why it was also like this in foreign countries. I was puzzled, without realizing fully that the persecution was actually extended to Canada. However, I did not stop there. Master's "Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference" came to my mind. Master says, "Wherever there's a problem, that is where you need to clarify the truth and save people. Don't take a detour when you run into difficulties. When you see something that does us harm, or when you see something blocking our validating the Fa, don't take a detour -- you should face it, and clarify the truth and save those beings. This is the compassion (cibei) of a Dafa disciple, and it's our saving lives."
Therefore, I decided to go to see them again. I went to her office again with a book of proclamation letters from Canadian officials and a heart of clarifying the truth about Falun Gong better. Another official joined in. When they knew that I spoke up to protect my belief, they immediately showed respect, sympathy, and understanding towards me. They even acknowledged that I actually was educating them when I wrote the letter to them. They went to talk to the other officials, hoping they would remove their misunderstandings toward me. From this talk, I got to know that the Chinese officials complained about me to the Canadian officials, saying that having a Falun Gong practitioner to be their interpreter made them feel "not secure." When I asked whether I would continue to work in the second session, the official went immediately to ask her supervisor. Unfortunately the answer she got was a negative one.
I felt very bad in my heart since I knew that I was dismissed because I was a Falun Gong practitioner. However, seeing that most officials knew the truth, I put it aside. Till September 2003, nearly a year afterwards, a western fellow practitioner told her lawyer what happened to me. She also went to talk to the officials in the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission. Being encouraged by this fellow practitioner and the human rights officials, I filed a complaint to the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission before this incident expired in October, complaining that relevant departments of Alberta government discriminated against me when firing me from my job simply because I was a Falun Gong practitioner. The purpose of my doing this was to clarifying the truth further to the Canadian officials and helping them to stand on the side of justice.
Complaint Was Refused, the Reason was Falun Gong is not a Religion
I sent my complaint to the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission on September 12. I received the response from AHRCC in fewer than two weeks. The complaint was refused because they thought that the information I had given them did not meet the requirements under the Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act (the Act). The letter said that they could only accept a complaint if there was discrimination based on a religious belief or a perceived religious belief. However, in my complaint form I was very clear that I did not consider Falun Gong to be a religion. The human rights officer suggested at the end that I could amend my complaint if I had additional information as to why I felt I was discriminated against because people perceived Falun Gong to be a religion.
After I received this letter, I discussed with fellow practitioners and decided to submit additional information instead of giving up because of the initial refusal. From the principles of the Fa, I understood that Falun Gong is not a religion. However, Falun Gong has belief, which is "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." Those who didn't know much about Falun Gong may have different understandings from us. Before I began to write, I hoped to get help from fellow practitioners. So I sent an email to an email group of practitioners, hoping to get some feedback on this issue. To my disappointment, I did not get a single response, feeling a bit lonely in my heart. But I stopped complaining soon and began to look inside. Such loneliness made me see the numb, indifference, and dependence in me when other fellow practitioners on the list needed help. I did not do well as Master required: "The next person's things are your things, and your things are his things." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference").
So I began to consider how to write the additional information. When I had this heart, my wisdom from the Fa was opened. In the additional information, I addressed again what Falun Gong was, a definition I included in my email letter to the Canadian officials. I pointed out the fact that Heilongjiang province, the sister province of Alberta, ranked number one among all the Chinese provinces in killing Falun Gong practitioners. I pointed out that the Alberta government should not give up human rights laws and integrity in order to please their business partners and the fact that I was discriminated against for being a Falun Gong practitioner. The result of doing this was actually helping the Chinese officials violate the basic human rights of Chinese people indirectly. I said that as human rights official, it was their responsibility to prevent such discrimination I had experienced from happening again. In the end, I hoped that the human rights officials would be courageous enough to take up such responsibility since what they did would make a difference not only in Canada but also in China. I pointed out that in the long run, the trade-off between the sense of justice, integrity, and short-run trade volumes would not increase the prosperity of Canada, nor was it what Canadians wanted. I told them that their courageous action would definitely help to stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. When I was writing this additional information, my heart was filled with compassion. I had only one intention, that was, to awaken the kindness and conscience from the sentient beings.
In October 2003, I received the letter of acceptance from AHRCC, stating, "The captioned complaint is accepted on the following Area(s) and Ground (s):
Area(s): Employment refused and terms of employment;
Ground(s): Religious beliefs-please note that this complaint has been accepted on the grounds of "perceived religious belief."
Looking back now, I understand why my complaint was refused the first time. It is because I did not clarify the truth clearly. Isn't submitting the additional information clarifying the truth better? After the truth is clarified well and the evil factors controlling the sentient beings are eliminated, they will develop a righteous frame of mind naturally.
Be Firm with Righteous Thoughts, Never Compromise on Principle
After Alberta International and Intergovernmental Relations received my complaint sent to them by AHRCC, they first requested to have two weeks of extension for a response. Later they did not acknowledge that they discriminated against me. So the case went to the conciliation stage. At that time, I was interfered with. There was a voice in my mind telling me that it was too difficult to go further and that I should not embarrass the Canadian officials, particularly those who knew the truth. After discussing with fellow practitioners, from the perspective of the Fa, we realized that we should clarify the truth to Canadian officials further to help them understand the severe results of their actions. Particularly, the message they gave to the Chinese officials was that the Alberta government was supporting the Jiang regime's persecution against Falun Gong. We should awaken their righteous thoughts and help them correct their mistakes. Therefore, I called the human rights conciliator, requesting to meet the officials in charge of this matter. The response I got was that officials did not want to talk to me since they were afraid that I might use what they said as evidence in court. The conciliator then asked me to propose a plan for resolving the issue. The options included economic compensation, apology, and others. After careful consideration, I decided to request both a written apology and economic compensation. Fellow practitioners agreed with me.
The conciliator called me one week later, telling me that the government only agreed to give me economic compensation. They did not agree to an apology since they did not think they were wrong. I told the conciliator that economic compensation was not my major concern. What I really wanted was a formal apology. I hoped the government officials would truly correct their mistake, and learn a lesson so as to prevent similar things from happening again in the future. The conciliator probably did not expect me to be so firm. She then said, "If you don't accept the suggestion of the government, the case has to move to the next stage, investigation. If the result of investigation is not in your favor, the case will be dismissed. You will get nothing." Her tone sounded not only concerned but also threatening. She asked me to consider it again and to give her a call the next week.
I had only one thought in my heart. That was to save these sentient beings. I would never let go the chance of saving these people for the sake of money, even though I needed money.
The new week started. When I was about to call the conciliator, I received her call instead. It is the call I mentioned at the beginning of this article. She told me that she had a couple of talks with the officials. They decided to accept my request to give me both a formal apology and economic compensation. She said that the officials had to get approval from the Minister for writing the apology. I believe more people will get a chance to read about the case and therefore to know the truth. I am sincerely happy for their change.
In the whole process of clarifying the truth to the Canadian officials, I strongly felt that "Cultivation depends on one's own efforts, while the transformation of the gong is done by one's master." (Zhuan Falun) As a Dafa disciple, I have to be firm with my righteous thoughts so that I can truly assist Teacher in his journey in this world.
Thanks to Master.
Thanks to fellow practitioners.
