(Minghui.org) Michael Prue, Member of Canada's Ontario Legislative Assembly, recently pointed out in an interview that the international community can no longer tolerate the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) policy of forced, live organ harvesting, and that things have to change.
Michael Prue, Member of Ontario Legislative Assembly
Mr. Prue remembers being 15 years old and hearing about the world's first heart transplant, which he thought was quite amazing at the time.
He noted, however, that “...just because science has enabled transplants to take place—for somebody who has died or somebody who is alive—doesn't mean that anybody should be allowed to take an organ from a live human being, against their will. That is terrible, that is terrible!”
He added, “In Canada we try to encourage people to donate their organs upon their death. We do not take them from live human beings and we do not take them from condemned prisoners who are forced to sign a form whether they [like it or not.] First of all, we do not execute people in order to get their organs. So, I find it quite abhorrent, if this is, in fact, taking place [in China].
Mr. Prue said he had no confidence whatsoever in the CCP's assurance that organ harvesting is not taking place in China.
“I know that the Chinese government continues to say that it is not happening. But I am very skeptical of these statements because the main authority who said that they were not harvesting organs from
condemned prisoners first denied it; today, he is saying that he is stopping the practice [within two years]. So, first of all he said it didn't happen, then he is saying he has to stop it. So I know what is happening.”
He also pointed out how people in Canada view this issue. “Canadians, from their own experience, and after reading, believe that organ harvesting is happening [in China].”
Since 2006, Canadian human rights lawyer Mr. David Matas and former Secretary of State (Asian-Pacific) of Canada Mr. David Kilgour, have been investigating the issue of organ harvesting in China. Their findings lead them to believe that tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have already become victims of forced organ harvesting.
Chinese Regime Cannot Evade the Issue of Organ Harvesting
Mr. Prue noted that, although the CCP wants to be viewed in a positive light in the international community, it still has a lot of work to do in the area of human rights.
“China wants to be recognized for its many accomplishments... but they cannot be recognized for all of the wonderful things—without being recognized as well—for all the not so wonderful things they are doing, like organ transplants and harvesting of organs from live people.
“China has to determine who they are and where they want to go, That's why pressure upon them is starting to have an effect, because the Chinese government wants to be able to go to any country in the world and say that they respect human rights.
“The Chinese government says that it [organ harvesting] is not happening, then let the investigators go in, let's talk to ordinary people and to the families of those who have died in prison and find out what happened with their loved ones, whether they ever saw the body after they died.”
He noted, “I have willed my own organs. I have an agreement, that upon my death, they can have whatever they want to help save someone's life. But, I don't want them taken them off me, you know, before I am dead! That is the issue. That is the issue here!”
He added, “To have the organs harvested [from Falun Gong practitioners] while they are still alive and to kill them for their organs is horrible!”
Hoping for Change In China
When Mr. Prue visited Hong Kong in 1999, he could tell that the Chinese people appeared worried that their words might offend the Chinese regime. But he noted that, in the past few years, more and more people are standing up to the CCP's policies to protect their own rights.
“I think big changes are possible, and likely in China. It is possible with world pressure. And with the Chinese government wanting to be a major player in world situations, they are going to have to allow people to have freedom, and this is one of the things that is going to put pressure on them. You cannot keep people down, they have a right to be free.”
He said that the development of instant communication (via email, TV, cell phones, etc.), has allowed people to “find out things very quickly,” therefore, “It is going to be increasingly difficult for totalitarian governments of any kind … to hold onto people any longer. I think it is a good thing, a really good thing.”
Mr. Prue talked about what happened recently with the Arab Spring. “People who were crushed by everything, by years of dictatorship in all of those Arab countries, have risen up in anger and have taken back democracy. It may not be as democratic and open and free as we are [in the West], but as their very first step, amazing things have happened this year. I think the same kinds of amazing things are going to happen in China, soon. When freedom comes, China will be truly great.
“I think when the people find out that their government has done wrong things, then there is an opportunity for them to say, 'No!'—that they are not going to allow it to happen anymore.
“When the Soviet Union collapsed, and people found out what their government was doing, it was a real problem for the Soviet Communist Party.
“The Chinese government has been able to ignore this issue of organ harvesting in the past, but they won't be able to ignore it any longer because the world is a small place, and if they want to come to more world conferences and do things, then they are going to have to show that they respect and protect human rights, that they respect democracy and freedom. And it will happen. It will happen.”
Mr. Prue said that, as a young man, he remembers seeing on TV “that there were sledge hammers taking down the Berlin Wall.
“I went there the next summer, looked at the Berlin Wall … and stood on both sides of it and looked at it and I started crying, because I didn't think that I was going to see this, that I would ever see this. I didn't expect to see the Arab Spring ... and apartheid ending in South Africa.
“I firmly believe in the goodness of the Chinese people. I think that one day, as I said, we are going to see a Renaissance in China in terms of human rights and free elections, and those things.”
He concluded, “Certainly, if a country like India, which has almost as many people as China, can have free elections and parties and allow people to speak their minds, then China can do it, too!”
