(Clearwisdom.net) July 20 marks the start of the persecution of Falun Gong five years ago. On the same day, the new Canadian Prime Minister and his cabinet were sworn in. During the press conference after the inauguration, a reporter raised a question about the persecution of Falun Gong. Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan said that the government hopes basic rights such as freedom of assembly and expression would be respected in all nations.

When asked by a reporter about Falun Gong issue, the Deputy Prime Minister said that we could see Falun Gong practitioners conduct peaceful protests at Capitol Hill and many other places in Canada. Canada respects freedom of assembly and expression. We hope that such rights would be respected by all nations. The press conference was broadcast live by CBC all of Canada.

Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan at the press conference

Falun Gong practitioners peacefully appeal at Capitol Hill to mark the 5th anniversary of 7-20

Ms. Anne McLellan Calls Falun Gong Practitioners "Our Friends"

In a recent interview, Ms. Anne McLellan called Falun Gong practitioners "our friends" and expressed understanding for the Falun Gong practitioners' daily appeal at Capitol Hill. "In contrast to Canada," Falun Gong practitioner Xun Li said, '"in the past five years, Falun Gong practitioners have been deprived of the right to believe in 'truthfulness, compassion and tolerance' in China and all peaceful appeals conducted by practitioners have been harshly cracked down upon. Whenever people practice Falun Gong in public, they have been brutally beaten and imprisoned. "

When interviewed by a reporter, Canadian citizen professor Kunlun Zhang's wife, Ms. Shumei Zhang, said: "The Jiang regime has persecuted Falun Gong 5 years. In the past five years, the persecution that Chinese Falun Gong practitioners have gone through is hard to imagine for kind-hearted people. More than 1000 practitioners have been persecuted to death, several hundred thousand have been illegally sentenced to prison terms or sent to labor camps, several thousand have been sent to mental hospitals for torture, millions have been subjected to brainwashing. After the persecution started, my family members and I were monitored and trailed, while our phone was tapped. We would be checked whenever we went to see friends or relatives. We had no freedom. My husband was abducted several times, and he was then illegally detained and tortured. In February 2001, local police tried to abduct me for the third time and I escaped. Eventually, with help from Canadian Embassy officials in China, I escaped to Canada safely."

In a public speech, MP Scott Reid said, "Around the world, there are so many countries that welcome Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance, I hope China won't be the last one." Mr. Reid and many other MPs have worked very hard to help rescue a number of relatives of Canadians who were persecuted in China for their practice of Falun Gong. Mr. Reid told the reporter that the Falun Gong practitioners rescued to Canada are good citizens that will contribute positively to society.

Regarding the persecution, Mr. Reid said that the persecution has lasted 5 years and so many Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted to death in this horrifying period. He called on China to stop treating Falun Gong with brutality and not to persecute Falun Gong anymore. Mr. Reid also said that he was deeply impressed by the fact that Falun Gong has used peaceful and rational approaches to protest the persecution.

According to Xun Li, Canadian practitioners started to take advantage of legal channels in 2001 to stop harassment to practitioners on Canadian soil, and they launched three libel cases to stop the Jiang regime's attempts to instigate hatred overseas. Forty-five Chinese officials responsible for the persecution, including Jiang Zemin, are on a monitoring list of the Canadian Royal Mounted Police, and more perpetrators will be added to the list once more evidence is collected. Meanwhile, legal action to bring Jiang to justice has also been launched in Canada.

Xun Li believes that the persecution will be ended when more people have learned the truth of Falun Gong.