(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioners in Canada held a Thank You Luncheon at Parliament in Ottawa on the afternoon of October 10, 2002 to express their sincere gratitude for the compassionate support of the Canadian public and officials over the past three years. They were especially grateful for the efforts that led to the successful rescue of 5 practitioners with Canadian ties who were jailed in China.

Members of Parliament sponsored this event, which was co-sponsored by MPs, including Ms. Colleen Beaumier, Ms. Libby Davies, Mr. Scott Reid, and Mr. Svend Robinson. Attendees included MPs, Senators, representatives from NGOs and community members.

For the past three years in Canada, MPs, Senators, NGOs, officials at all levels of government and the Canadian people have supported Falun Gong practitioners, who have been under brutal persecution by the communist regime in China. Part of the achievement of these efforts was the successful rescue of a number of Canadians and their family members from Chinese custody, such as:

• Prof. Kunlun Zhang, released in January 2001,
• Ms. Ying Zhu, released in June 2001,
• Mr. Shenli Lin, released in January 2002,
• Ms. Yanxia Wu, released in September 2002, and
• Mr. Zhaojin Qiu, released on September 27, 2002.

Currently, there are at least 12 more family members of Canadians who are suffering in Chinese labor camps or prisons. Tens of thousands of families have been destroyed by the brutal persecution of Falun Gong. Millions of people were and still are deprived of their basic human rights in China.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." Since its introduction in 1992, it quickly spread by word of mouth throughout China, and is now practiced in over 50 countries.