Canada: Falun Gong Practitioners Present a Special Christmas Gift to Residents at a Ski Resort

On November 22, 2003, an annual Christmas parade was held at Banff, a famous tourist attraction in Canada to greet the coming of Christmas.

Banff is located at the centre of the famous Banff National Park, east of the Rocky Mountains, 130 km from Calgary. Banff is not only famous for its chains of mountains and steep hills, but also for having the second biggest ski resort in the world. This year, the Banff Christmas Parade attracted many citizens who came quite early to wait on Big Horn Street in downtown Banff, disregarding the freezing weather.

At noon, when the parade entered the downtown, the spectators welcomed them with warm applause.

In the parade, some people drove carriages and distributed candy and oranges to residents along the road, some sang Christmas carols, and some rode on sleighs. When the Falun Dafa procession appeared, the spectators gave them warm applause and acclamations. A few westerners greeted in Chinese, "How are you!" When practitioners in the procession passed out flyers, the residents happily accepted them and thanked the practitioners.

After the parade finished, the Falun Gong group composed of 20 practitioners from Edmonton and Calgary came to the famous shopping centre Cascade Plaza in Banff to introduce Falun Gong to the residents. The manager gave the practitioners great support. After a short break, the practitioners unfurled a Falun Dafa banner and set up some photo boards in a space near the elevator on the first floor. They then began demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises and handed out flyers. They also gave colourful balloons to local children. For three hours, many passersby by showed great interest and stopped to watch the practitioners' performance.

A resident of Chinese descent learned about Falun Gong and followed the practitioners to practise the exercises. He repeatedly said, "So relaxing!" A western man talked with a practitioner about Falun Gong in Chinese. Another older western woman was surprised and moved when a practitioner offered to mail her a copy of Zhuan Falun free of charge.