Falun Dafa the fifth exercise, meditation // Photo: longtrekhome, Pixabay
Panel discussion: The Persecution of Falun Gong and Canada-China Policy
David Matas
UM Distinguished Alumni Award recipient and passionate advocate for human rights David Matas, will join colleagues in a panel discussion examining the Chinese Communist Party’s systematic countrywide rights violations against the Falun Gong spiritual practice, and its consequences for Canada-China policy.
The free event will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 9, from 5-6:30 p.m. CST online. Learn more and register here.
The atrocities carried out in the persecution of Falun Gong has been largely ignored by the West for over two decades. Such silence has denied the tens of millions of Falun Gong adherents one of their few forms of protection—international pressure. Silence has also emboldened communist China to escalate aggressions toward its victims and those in both China and Canada who protest against the atrocities.
The panelists will address:
- How Canada can end the impunity to human rights violations that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials enjoy, as well as the intimidation and harassment activities of the Party in Canada.
- The insights that the persecution of Falun Gong and its practitioners’ resistance can offer into the nature of the CCP and the means to best counter its threat to Canada and the West.
- Why the Falun Gong human rights issue should be an integral part of Canada-China policy formulation.
Panelists include:
- Hon. Irwin Cotler, Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, Canadian Co-Chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, and former Minister of Justice
- Garnett Genuis, MP, Conservative Shadow Minister for International Development and Human Rights, and Canadian Co-Chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China
- David Matas, international human rights lawyer, co-author of Bloody Harvest, an independent investigation into organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China
- Alex Neve, Former Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada
- Levi Browde, Executive Director of the Falun Dafa Information Center
Opening Remarks by Hon. Judy A. Sgro, MP, Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong of Canada.
Moderator:
- Hon. David Kilgour, former Canadian MP and Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific) and co-author of Bloody Harvest
Thank you for holding this event at the eve of International Human Rights Day. Holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable for the heinous crimes of torture, imprisonment and forced life organ harvesting it committed during the last 21 years against the peaceful Falun Gong spiritual group is a matter that the governments of all free nations should make a priority. I thank Canada for leading the way.