Australia: Falun Gong Practitioners Participate in a Panel During the Canadian Bar Association Annual Conference in Winnipeg

The annual conference of the Canadian Bar Association was recently held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, a city in central Canada. The conference attracted many experts, including Canada's Minister of Justice Mr. Irwin Cotler, the Minister of International Cooperation Ms. Aileen Carroll, Chief Justice Beverly McLachilin, Deputy Minister of Justice Mr. Paul Macklin and over 800 lawyers and other professionals in the legal system.

Falun Gong practitioner Li Xun, renowned human rights lawyer Mr. David Matas and Dr. Terri Marsh participate in a panel onstage

This year, the theme of the conference was Law Beyond Borders. The opening plenary included brief addresses from Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler. United Nations Special Envoy Stephen Lewis delivered a moving keynote address on his experiences combating the tragic spread of AIDS in Africa.

One attendee raised the question of how to enforce the rule of law internationally, mentioning those in China who tortured professor Zhang Kunlun, a Falun Gong practitioner. The host of the panel onstage at the time remarked that the United Nations was not the only answer. She also encouraged the Canadian justice system to help hold those who committed such crimes responsible.

Outside the conference building, practitioners held a peaceful rally and staged an anti-torture exhibition. Many media came to interview, film and photograph those at the event.

Co-founder of the World Organisation to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) Mr. Li Xun and American lawyer Dr. Terri Marsh were invited to join a panel presenting a report on international human rights violations. The panel provided an academic discussion of Falun Gong practitioners and others pursuing justice in the face of gross violations of their most basic human rights. This is the first time that practitioners have given presentations to the CBA.

Dr. Terri Marsh discussed the lawsuit against former Chinese president Jiang Zemin from various legal aspects. Dr. Marsh analysed three points in this case.

1. The lawsuit against Jiang is related to every country's interests.
2. Immunity is not Impunity.
3. Facing such inhuman persecution, practitioners have no alternative but to seek justice in the court system.

Marsh said that the core principle of the Nuremburg Commission was that no one could be above the law. She cited many cases of former heads of state and high-ranking officials being convicted in the past. She also discussed the concept of "Jus Cogens", which means that crimes recognised worldwide, such as torture, crimes against humanity and genocide are the responsibility of all countries of the world to face. These crimes don't hurt only one person. On the contrary, they destroy the very fabric of humanity.

Mr. Li Xun started his speech by citing a sentence from the testimony of Professor David Ownby, Dean of the East Asia department at the University of Montreal, "the severity of persecution of Falun Gong exceeds any other persecution in China's history." He discussed how Falun Gong practitioners used the law of Canada to stop the persecution. He cited American senator Mr. Hiram Johnson's famous words in 1917, "The first casualty when war comes, is truth". He pointed out the persecution of Falun Gong is totally based on lies.

He discussed the case of suing a Chinese language newspaper in Canada, the case Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Joel Chipkar suing Deputy Chinese Consul Mr. Pan Xinchun for libel and others.

Legal professionals expressed their willingness to continue cooperation with Falun Gong. The dean of a law school invited practitioners to lecture at his university.

To support the event, Falun Gong practitioners overcame many difficulties to travel to Winnipeg. Among them were practitioners from Vancouver who drove 30 hours, Calgary and Edmonton who drove 15 hours, practitioners from Regina, Minnesota and Toronto. Together they formed one body and tirelessly devoted themselves to informing the legal system and local people about Falun Gong.