(Clearwisdom.net) Central News Agency reported on August 29, 2007 that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be held in Australia. Canadian MPs and others have started a petition calling for the Prime Minister to urge Hu Jintao to immediately release imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners, particularly family members of 16 Canadian Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China, during the APEC summit.

The Falun Dafa Association of Canada held a press conference recently on Ottawa's Parliament Hill. Mr. Li Xun, president of the Canadian Falun Dafa Association, hosted the conference. Canadian MP Wayne Marston and representatives of the Canadian families that have practitioner relatives imprisoned in China attended the press conference.

Mr. Marston said that he accompanied Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ma Kai on a visit to China this year, and paid particular attention to the family members of the 16 Canadian Falun Gong practitioners who are being imprisoned and tortured. He called on Harper to urge Hu Jintao during the APEC summit to immediately release these people and help them to be reunited with their loved ones in Canada.

Mr. Li Xun displayed the petition containing more than 12,000 signatures from Canadian people at the press conference. He said that the 12,000 Canadians, who love freedom and democracy, and value human rights, had signed the petition letter to Harper within two weeks. They hope that Harper will take advantage of the opportunity during the APEC summit to ask Hu Jintao to release detained family members of Canadian practitioners and stop the persecution of Falun Gong.

On Parliament Hill Square, besides presenting the petition, practitioners also demonstrated the exercises and presented a reenactment of the harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners, as well as the torture and persecution imposed upon imprisoned practitioners, all at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party. Their performance attracted a large crowd of people, and many more people signed the petition.