Canada: Introducing Falun Dafa in Penticton and Kelowna, British Columbia

Penticton is a small city famous for its abundant fruits and wines in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Falun Gong practitioners were invited to participate in Penticton's annual Christmas parade. On November 27th 2004, about 50 Falun Gong practitioners from Vancouver drove to Penticton for the parade. They also went to Kelowna to promote Dafa the next day.

Exercise Demonstration	Waist-Drum Troupe

Young practitioners	Practitioner being interviewed

Parade in Penticton

"Ah, look at those drummers!" People were surprised to see the Falun Gong waist drum team appear in the parade for the first time. They asked each other to find out where they were from. Along the streets, the practitioners were busy filling the requests of the spectators asking for flyers. Falun Gong was the only Chinese cultural group invited to the parade. The procession was led by a large banner reading, "Falun Dafa", and followed by exercise demonstrations and a large waist drum team. The sound from "The Drum of Law" moved the spectators. Again and again, the organisers thanked this group of practitioners who drove five hours from Vancouver.

On the last Saturday of November, it was the traditional Christmas parade and Christmas tree lighting event. This year marked the seventh parade. Local residents and people from nearby cities came to watch, and the Mayor, Mr. Perry, was very happy, saying it was a grand parade and a happy time for children and their parents.

Promoting Dafa in Kelowna

The next morning, the practitioners drove another hour to Kelowna, which is across the lake from Penticton. When the display boards were set up on the lawn outside of the community centre and the practitioners began to practise the exercises to the pleasant, slow music, many passersby came to watch and take the informational materials. One mother with her little baby came by. She studied the display boards carefully one after another. A practitioner handed her information materials and a CD. She asked many questions, and in the end she said, "I teach the students to treat others kindly in school. You are doing very well. I will take this back and share it with my students." Later, she came out from the community centre with her baby and looked at the display boards again.

A family came out from the community centre and was ready to leave, and a lady in the group ran over to the practitioners and wanted to donate some money to support the anti-persecution activities. The practitioners gracefully declined the donation but appreciated her kindness. The largest local TV station, CHBC, heard about the news and came to interview the practitioners and take some footage of the exercises and display boards, including the banners calling for bringing Jiang Luo Liu Zhou to justice and calling for an end to the persecution in China. A reporter from another newspaper also interviewed the practitioners.

One senior citizen talked to the practitioners. He said he had his belief but he is also very interested in Falun Gong and agreed with the principle "Truthfulness Compassion Tolerance". He wanted to learn the exercises too. He said the moral standard is deteriorating in modern society. If a person accepted the "Compassion" in one's heart, he would give up the hatred. He stated that China should not suppress the people who practise "Truthfulness Compassion Tolerance".