Six people who practise Falun Gong, a Chinese religion, came to Olds this past week calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take a stronger stand against the Chinese government, which is alleged to be harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners.
“We're having teams tour across all of Canada from east coast to west coast to bring awareness of the ongoing atrocities against innocent Falun Gong prisoners of conscience,” spokesperson Jenny Yang said.
She said the governing Communist Party has outlawed Falun Gong because they view a group espousing views not officially sanctioned by the government as a threat.
The group, all based in Calgary, held up banners outside the Olds town hall protesting the Chinese government's alleged atrocities.
Yang noted that according to a report released earlier this year, human tissue and organs are being taken from thousands of prisoners in China, including Falun Gong practitioners as well as Uyghur Muslims, Tibetans and Christians.
The report's authors are former MP David Kilgour; David Matas, senior legal counsel of B'nai Brith Canada; and investigative writer Ethan Gutmann. It's an update of a report first issued in 2006.
“As you probably know, in North America, the waiting time for organs is from two to four years. In China, many hospitals advertise that people can get an organ – a healthy organ – within weeks. If it is an emergency, the shortest waiting time is four hours,” Yang said.
“Where is this large number of matching organs coming from? The Communist Party claims they're coming from executed prisoners,” she added.
“According to Amnesty International, it's about 2,000 per year. However, China is doing 60- to 100,000 organ transplant operations per year. So what accounts for the discrepancy? Where are the rest of the organ donors coming from?”
Yang alleged those other organs are coming primarily from Falun Gong practitioners, who she said make up the largest number of prisoners of conscience in China.
“This is a genocide-scale killing,” Yang said. “It's not like a few bad people are doing this in a back alley. It's actually directed by the Chinese Communist Party. It's state-run; it's institutionalized.”
However, she was unable to provide any proof of that claim, beyond the Kilgour-Matas-Gutmann report.
According to practitioners, Falun Gong is based on truth, compassion, tolerance and excercise, although critics say it frowns on homosexuals and transgender people.
“As Canadians, we play a significant role on the international stage and it's a land of freedom,” Yang said. “We hope the PM and more officials can bring this issue up to the Chinese leader to urge them to stop the crime immediately.”
Yang said a major reason for the tour is the fact that Trudeau visited China in August; then Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Ottawa in late September.
Yang was asked if Trudeau could jeopardize possible trade deals between Canada and China by bringing up the alleged organ harvesting program in discussions with Chinese officials.
She said actually, by bringing up the topic, Trudeau could gain greater respect from the Chinese government.
“I think Chinese leaders are just testing the waters to see how far the new prime minister can be pushed,” Yang said. If he can be strong, he'll actually get more respect. If you're a leader who is very strong on human rights, you actually get respect from the current Chinese Communist Party.”
She said another reason for the campaign is a feeling that the Chinese government's attitude toward Falun Gong might be changing.
“The officials who are directly involved with persecuting Falun Gong are all being arrested under the name of corruption,” she said, but added that as far as she and her group are concerned, those changes aren't going far enough.
Yang, 33, practises Falun Gong herself.
She said as a result, she was unable to get the education she wanted in China.
“You are not allowed to go to university unless you sign a paper saying you no longer practise Falun Gong,” Yang said.
“I'm very lucky to be here. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to go to school – to college – in China. But I was able to come out and get a geology degree in Alberta.”
"This is a genocide-scale killing," Yang said. "It's not like a few bad people are doing this in a back alley. It's actually directed by the Chinese Communist Party. It's state-run; it's institutionalized." JENNY YANG SPOKESPERSON FALUN GONG GROUP
