Canada: Victims Recount Harassment, Threats in Press Conference Attended by Major Media

On June 17th, 2005, the President of the Canada Falun Dafa Association, Mr. Li Xun, and seven practitioners held a press conference on Parliament Hill. They explicitly recounted the harassments, threats, surveillance and discrimination they have experienced on Canadian soil at the hands of spies from the Chinese Communist regime. More than ten media outlets, including CBC-TV, CTV, Canadian Press, Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and CanWest, came to gather news.

Nearly 20 reporters asked questions, wanting to know the details of the harassments that practitioners have encountered in Canada, the reason why Falun Gong is suppressed, the reason why practitioners are brave enough to speak out about their plights, how the Canadian government has handled the persecution and the harassments in Canada up to this point, as well as what measures practitioners expected the Canadian government to take. The question and answer session went on for about thirty minutes.

Victims Recount Incidents of Harassment and Threats

Monitored and harassed after going back to China

Mr. Fan Ziyu, a Canadian resident, is a senior engineer of control systems. Appointed by an American company, he worked in Tianjin, China from April 2000 to November 2001. At 9:00 p.m. on November 3, 2001, officers from the Tianjin National Security Bureau broke in and ransacked his apartment. The officers had disconnected his apartment phone in advance. Two hours later, they confiscated Mr. Fan's Falun Gong books and a large number of personal items.

Fan Ziyu said, "During the process, they employed both soft and hard tactics to threaten me. From their words, I could confirm that the Chinese Communist regime indeed had a big espionage network in Canada. One officer told me, 'I know everything even if you don't tell me. I know more than you do about your practice sites.' Then he related private information about fellow practitioners from my practice site and their family members' situation. I was quite shocked. How could they know so many details? There were some things that even I did not know about."

Mr. Fan continued, "One of the agents boasted, 'I just came back from Canada. I'm quite familiar with the situation of Falun Gong in Toronto and Montreal. I've even read the practitioners' speeches that you compiled for the 2000 Montreal Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference.' At that point, I felt quite puzzled. How would they be able to read those articles? I was the one in charge of compiling them. Later I remembered that there was a spy named He Bing, who pretended to be a practitioner. She had asked me for those articles to read. I could not imagine that he could have accessed those articles. Another agent said to me, 'Don't think yourself remarkable for coming back from abroad. It's too easy for us to go abroad. He just came back from the U.S.' From this, we can see that the Chinese communist regime makes it very convenient for spies they send to other countries, including Canada. They've arranged for many people to go to other countries."

On May 10, 2001, when Canadian resident Ms. Zhu Ying returned to China to visit her parents, she was arrested by police and illegally detained for 33 days. During her detention, national security agents confiscated her phone book, which listed Montreal practitioners' names and phone numbers. The agents ordered her to give them personal information on her fellow practitioners. Before she went back to Canada, the agents once again threatened Ms. Zhu Ying not to reveal to overseas media the facts of her detention, otherwise, her study and life in Canada would be affected. They also ordered her to be their spy and to report to them on Falun Gong practitioners' activities.

Requests for passport renewals and visas to visit China are rejected

On July 20, 2000, Mr. Guan Weidong and his friends went to the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa to renew their passports. Mr. Guan's request was turned down, because he is a practitioner of Falun Gong. Embassy officer Zeng Jixin told Mr. Guan, "You must give up Falun Gong, or we won't renew your passport. This is China's policy." When Mr. Guan and his friend left, they saw a note with words, "Evil cult" on the windshield of his friend's car.

In May 2001, Mr. Guan Weidong's boss tried to get a visa for him so that he could go with his boss to China and interpret for him. However, the Chinese Embassy refused to issue him a visa, because he practises Falun Gong. In 2002, Dr. Zhu Xueye, a postdoctoral fellow from Concordia University, applied for passport renewal, but his application was rejected because of his involvement in Falun Gong.

Monitoring the Chinese community

On December 18, 1999, when Mr. Zhu Xueye entered customs at Shenzhen, he was immediately arrested. The officer took a glance at his passport and said, "You planned to go to Macao." Mr. Zhu said, "I was astonished. I had indeed wanted to go to Macao, but because of some unexpected reason, I changed my mind at the last minute."

Mr. Zhu Xueye said, "At 6:00 p.m. on June 22, 2002, I wanted to sit on a stone stair in a park near Montreal's Chinatown for a while. An older gentleman came over and ordered me to leave. He said, 'You are wearing a Falun Gong T-shirt and you are sitting in front of our organization's banner. We feel pressured. If I allow you to sit here, I'll be in for trouble, so you have to leave.'" Mr. Zhu commented, "From this, you can see, that these Chinese organisations are also under surveillance." In August 2004, Mr. Zhu encountered similar discrimination.

On August 10, 2002, Mr. Zhu obtained Canadian Citizenship. A lady who had a heavy Chinese accent phoned him and warned him not to practise Falun Gong any longer or the Canadian government would not grant him his citizenship.

Threats

Montreal practitioner Ms. Luo Xing said, "In August 2002, because I practised Falun Gong, I was suddenly arrested and detained for 72 hours secretly by the third department of the Jiangsu National Security Bureau. Later I was bailed out and waited for further interrogation." Before Ms. Luo went abroad, agents from the national security bureau demanded her not to mention her arrest and detention, and not to attend public activities. Otherwise her family members would be affected. One of the agents told her, "Don't think that we will be unable to find you after you go abroad. It's not a big deal for us to locate you in other countries."

In September 2002, Ms. Luo Xing arrived in Canada. During the first six months, she moved six times. On the occasion of the 2003 Chinese Lunar New Year, Ms. Luo received a phone call from a national security bureau agent who warned her not to appear in public, and to behave herself. Shortly before, Ms. Luo's parents called her from China and told her that an official who is in charge of political matters from her work unit had sent them a message saying, "As soon as Luo Xing comes back to China, she will be arrested."

Some Chinese organisations discriminate against practitioners

At the end of 2000, a local Chinese seniors organisation cancelled Ms. Huang Daiming's membership. Ms. Huang is now 70 years old. The organisation is controlled by the Chinese Embassy. The head of the organisation insisted that Ms. Huang withdraw from the organisation.

Family members in China are harassed

Ms. Zhu Ying confirmed that in 2002 one of her family members came to Canada to do business and visited her. After he returned China, he was immediately interrogated by the national security bureau. The agents asked him why he had visited Ms. Zhu. In 2002, Ms. Zhu Ying's family sent some money to her account through a relative in Hong Kong. Later, her relative's account was frozen for "sending money to support Falun Gong activities."

Harassing phone calls

Ms. Lucy Zhou confirmed that earlier this year several hundred practitioners throughout the world, including Canada, received a number of harassing phone calls with content defaming Falun Gong and inciting hatred toward Falun Gong. According to Ms. Lucy Zhou, in Canada 30 to 35 practitioners received such phone calls.

At around 2:00 a.m. one night in May 2000, Guan Weidong received an anonymous phone call, in which a man asked, "Do you practise Falun Gong?" Guan answered, "Yes." The man said, "You'd better not practise it, otherwise, your life will be in danger." Then the man hung up.

Infiltration into Canadian society

According to Ms. Lucy Zhou, the presidents of the Chinese association in Ottawa have pressured several dozen of its sub-organisations to write to Canadian MPs defaming Falun Gong and demand that the MPs not support Falun Gong. They even requested that the City of Ottawa prohibit practitioners from holding peaceful appeals in front of the Chinese Embassy. They tried to mislead mainstream society in the name of representing the Chinese communities. In fact, it was the Chinese Embassy that instigated them to do so. Today, some Chinese Communist regime mouthpieces in the Chinese association claim to represent the majority of Chinese organisations in implementing the Chinese Embassy's orders. They attempted to crush NTDTV, a TV station that is courageous enough to report on the truth about Falun Gong. They attempted to prevent NTDTV from obtaining a license to broadcast in Canada. It is sad that these mouthpieces for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are everywhere in the world, including Canada. As the CCP's spy network is exposed, they will all be revealed.

Ms. Zhou said that over the past few years, Falun Gong has become the target of hate propaganda, which not only comes from China, but also from many Chinese media outlets manipulated or influenced by the CCP. At present, the Chinese media hardly mentions Falun Gong, but many reports obviously follow the CCP's tone.

Falun Gong Practitioners' Views on "Fear"

A reporter asked, "Don't you feel afraid when you reveal all these harassments and threats?" Mr. Li Xun answered, "One of the points we would like to address here is the atmosphere of terror manufactured by the CCP. In China, they use hate propaganda and violence to persecute the cultivators and deceive the world's people. In Canada, they employ the same tactics to try to make Canadian people feel fearful and remain silent rather than condemning the persecution, in consideration of trade interests."

Mr. Li Xun said, "Because we cultivate ourselves according to 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance,' we will not let up on the evil. This is not only for the sake of Falun Gong practitioners but also for the sake of those who don't want to participate in the persecution and for the sake of people's morality and conscience. Falun Gong practitioners are courageous enough to stand up and tell the facts."

An MP once asked Mr. Li Xun the same question. Mr. Li answered then, "Only those who lie and fabricate facts, and those who don't know about the truth feel afraid. People who uphold the truth will not be fearful."

From Open to Secret, the Persecution has Never Ceased

In answer to reporters' questions, Mr. Li Xun explained that the CCP's policy in suppressing Falun Gong has changed. Initially, the Party openly instigated hatred and manipulated the media to fabricate facts. Now the oppression has become secret. Nevertheless, the persecution, torture and murder of practitioners have never ceased. The CCP is still employing hundreds of methods to torture practitioners. At present, the deaths from persecution of more than 2,500 practitioners have been verified.

Mr. Li Xun said, "In Canada, the situation is quite similar. According to Hao Fengjun's secret documents, some dated September 13, 2004, and some dated January 2005, one can see that the CCP's suppression of Falun Gong has never slacked off." Ms. Lucy Zhou said that the documents provided by Hao Fengjun included detailed information about a practitioner's plan to start a company. Ms. Zhou and that practitioner are very close friends. Ms. Zhou said that even she did not know about the details.

Falun Gong Practitioners Encourage the Canadian Government and the International Community to Openly and Actively Oppose the Persecution

When one reporter asked, "What do you expect from the Canadian government?" Mr. Li Xun said, "When the persecution first began on July 20, 1999, Canada was the first country that stood up to condemn the persecution. On July 26, the Globe and Post reported that, 'Canada condemns the persecution of Falun Gong.' Unfortunately, the persecution became more and more severe. Canada and China had a bilateral dialogue." Mr. Li continued, "We found this kind of dialogue not so effective, because the dialogue was not open and the CCP still continued its persecution. If more countries could openly condemn the persecution, it will be more effective in stopping it." Mr. Li stressed, "It is not enough to only perform investigations. The government should take specific actions to protect Canadian sovereignty and interests."

Mr. Li Xun said, "We feel encouraged that many Canadian MPs and non-governmental organisations have openly called for an end to the persecution. Therefore, we also encourage the Canadian government to openly condemn the persecution." Mr. Li added, "This persecution is actually targeted to people's morality and conscience. It is not only Falun Gong practitioners' responsibility to stop the persecution, but it is also the responsibility of the international community, including Canada."