(Clearwisdom.net) Canadian Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong held its first public event on the afternoon of November 16, 2009, a book launch ceremony for the book "Bloody Harvest." The event took place on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The book's two authors explained the new evidence of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners presented in their new book. 

  Authors sign books at a book launch for "Bloody Harvest" held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa

MP Bill Siksay, chair of the newly formed Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong, hosted the book launch ceremony. Members of the group, including veteran Canadian Members of Parliament Irwin Cotler, James Lunney, Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Rob Anders and Scott Reid were in attendance, as were representatives from various NGOs, human rights activists, China experts, professors and scholars.

The authors of the book, David Matas and David Kilgour, spoke about the latest findings of their investigation into organ harvesting atrocities against Falun Gong practitioners at a press conference in the morning. They said that their investigation targeted largely on global transplant tourism between January 2006 to July 2007. "The global transplant tourist market has shifted and we are now dealing with a local Chinese market." David Matas said, "Global transplant tourism into China has really cut down dramatically. What has gotten worse is the numbers. Numbers of organs being sourced from Falun Gong practitioners, in our view, is increasing."

Mr. Matas stressed that while the book is the 3rd version of their investigation report, much of the evidence presented in the new book is different from the previous two versions because "the laws in China have changed, and the nature of the market has changed as a result of the laws, both in China and abroad."

Capital punishment has decreased, but transplant numbers remain unchanged

David Matas said, "China sources its organs for transplant from prisoners. They just started a pilot project for an organ donation system in August 2009. There is no law allowing for the sourcing from the brain-dead cardiac-alive accident victims. What we're left with is just prisoners."

"The Chinese government used to say donations but now they've shifted to a more plausible statement that they're prisoners sentenced to death and executed." said Mr. Matas.

Mr. Matas continued, "The death penalty has been pretty constant before and after the persecution [of Falun Gong] began but the transplantation volume shot way up after the persecution began.

Mr. Matas said, "Since the 2^nd version of our report, the volume of death penalties decreased considerably. From Amnesty International figures, there is a big drop from 2004 to 2008. But transplant numbers remained at historic volumes.

"The question is, where do the transplants come from when the traditional volume is constant while the traditional source is decreasing dramatically." He said that this also concerns the UN Rapporteur on Torture and Religious Intolerance and the UN Committee Against Torture. "All have been pressing China to explain the discrepancy between the sources of organs and volumes of transplants."

David Kilgour emphasized the illegality of China's "reeducation through labor" system. He said, "Labor camps, outside the legal system, allows the Party to send anyone there for up to 4 years without any kind of a hearing or appeal." He suggested, "Canada and other countries should ban forced labor exports by legislation which puts the onus on all importers to prove that goods are not made, in effect, by slaves." Mr. Kilgour stated that the new book gives 25 recommendations what countries like Canada should follow to help stop the organ harvesting atrocities.

MP: Bloody Harvest report shines a light into those very dark corners

MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj remarked at the press conference that people are concerned about the importance of trade with China. He said, "We often read about trade with China. What you don't hear about and rarely can find out about is another trade, it's a trade that's horrific in nature, it's a trade in human organs and body parts, victimizing some of the most vulnerable in a totalitarian regime."

"What our two Davids have done is shining a light into those very dark corners of the penal system and into the dark part of a system that few have dared to venture into. It's a very difficult read but it's something we feel compelled to inform ourselves about. Everyone of us as a consumer benefits from trade and these days from trade in China, The fact that they're not directly connected doesn't exonerate us from addressing this particular issue," said he.

Mr. Wrzesnewskyj has introduced a bill to fight the international underground trade in human organs and other body parts.

Mr. Wrzesnewskyj thanked the investigators for their efforts. He said, "They've done the work of angels by shining a light on those and I'm sure one day people will note the two of them as among the righteous for the work they've done on this particular file."

History repeats itself, the alarm has been raised

MP James Lunney expressed his appreciation for the new book. "I appreciate the good work, the great work, the seminal work that our Davids have done."

He stated, "We think back to a time not that many decades ago when there was a terrible evil afoot in the world. There were indications, warnings, that something was out of order alarms raised by people with family members yet somehow that evil went on for some time before it was eventually revealed and understood. It makes us uncomfortable to talk about these kinds of things, but we talk about what happened in the Holocaust with the Jews. Now our friends from the Falun Gong are worried about their family members. There are numbers that don't add up. All over the world there's a shortage of organs but not in China. The questions raised by our colleague are very serious questions."

"So I applaud my colleagues for bringing this forward and it's incumbent on us as people living in a free world to pay attention and to look upon the plight of those who are not able to defend themselves and to find a way to act. We're hopeful that this book launch will make a big impact and will help to spread the word that we can't afford to be silent," said he.

Irwin Cotler, former Minister of Justice, stated that the efforts of the authors has brought the life of Falun Gong in general to international attention. Without their work, without their travel and mobilizing against the Chinese government for its massive assault on human rights, these assaults would be under the world radar. He said, "Both of them have made an enormous contribution to the struggle for human rights as a whole, and in particular to the struggle of Falun Gong for their human rights, recognition of their faith and human dignity which are under constant assault." We are all your beneficiaries.

The book launch - first event of "Canadian Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong"

It's the first event held by Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong (PFOFG) since its founding in early October. The founding PFOFG membership is comprised of two senators and 18 Members of Parliament, including representation from all parties represented in Parliament. According to Mr. Siksay, chair of the group, more MPs will join in.

MP Siksay said in an interview, "I think there is a lot of misunderstanding of what the practice of Falun Gong is, so I'm hoping this group can help the Parliamentarians, members of the House of Commons and the Senate have a better understanding of the practice of Falun Gong." He also thought that there were MPs who had in the past and want to be in the future a big strong stand against the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. He said, "We want to make sure that our friendship includes actions in support of ending the persecution [of Falun Gong]."

MP Rob Anders said in an interview that as a member of PFOFG, he appreciates the authors' efforts. "The more we can shed light on it [organ harvesting], the better." He hopes that Prime Minister Harper will raise the human rights issue of Falun Gong during his upcoming visit to China.

The authors also hope that Prime Minster Harper will raise the organ harvesting and labor camps atrocities during his visit to China. David Kilgour hopes that the Prime Minister convey the recommendations proposed to the Canadian government in the new book to Hu Jintao.