Toronto Rally Supports Anti-Forced Organ Harvesting Bill, Calls Out Beijing Regime’s Abuses

Hundreds of people from a spiritual group that has long been targeted for persecution by the Chinese regime held a rally on Dec. 8 in downtown Toronto ahead of Parliament’s third reading of a bill that would ban the crime of forced organ harvesting.

Adherents of Falun Gong, a meditative practice based on Buddhist traditions, held the rally in support of Bill S-223, which would make it a criminal offence for a Canadian citizen or permanent resident to travel abroad to receive an organ taken from someone who did not give informed consent.

The bill would also amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to prevent a permanent resident or foreign national from entering Canada if they are complicit in activities relating to human organ trafficking.

Falun Gong adherents have been subjected to a decades-long persecution campaign, launched by Jiang Zemin, the late former leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Jiang deemed Falun Gong’s moral principles of “truthfulness, compassion, forbearance” a threat to the regime’s authoritarian rule, and ordered the persecution in China on July 20, 1999, vowing to “eradicate” the spiritual practice. Falun Gong adherents have since been targeted for torture, arbitrary incarceration, and sexual abuse.

A 2006 report, co-authored by late Canadian MP David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas, found that Falun Gong adherents have also been a primary victim of state-sponsored organ harvesting by Beijing.

Sen. Salma Ataullahjan, who introduced Bill S-223 in the current parliamentary session, said that Canada is “lagging behind” its allies in banning the crime, taking 15 years since parliamentarians first sought legislative measures to ban the crimes.

MPs have held debates on the third reading of the bill, and are scheduled to vote on it on Dec. 14.

Hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners marched across downtown Toronto after the rally, making a final stop outside of the Chinese embassy.

Voices of Support

Several former and current parliamentarians have voiced support for members of Falun Gong and the pending legislation to ban organ harvesting and trafficking.

Melissa Lantsmen, Conservative MP and deputy leader of her party, applauded the “strength and courage” of Falun Gong practitioners for their sacrifices in upholding freedom of conscience and religion.

“We admire and applaud the strength and courage of the millions of Falun Gong practitioners still suffering under a campaign of fear and intimidation, both in the People’s Republic of China and beyond those borders, around the world, including right here in Canada,” she said in a video message.

Lantsman remarks come amid the RCMP’s investigation of Beijing’s foreign influence operations in Canada, as well as reports from Falun Gong adherents and other dissidents of the communist regime, who say there’s been an increase in incidents of harassment by Chinese authorities in recent months.

“We understand that the threats and intimidation of this regime hits us at home, and only full transparency on the regime’s increasing incursions into our democracy, into our security, will ensure a safer Canada for every one of us,” Lantsman said.

Wladslaw Lizon, a former Conservative MP who attended the Dec. 8 rally in support, called out the Chinese regime for allegedly setting up over 100 secret police stations around the world, including in Canada, and reportedly using them to coerce Chinese dissidents living abroad to return home.

While addressing the demonstrators, Lizon said there is “no place in Canada or any other countries for Chinese police outposts,” and that democratic countries should “have a very strong stance against China.”

“We should send very strong message to the government of China. We should tell them that the end is coming,” Lizon said. “I grew up in Poland under the communist system. We were able to fight it and win, and we will work together—I know that the day of victory will come.”

Former Sen. Consiglio Di Nino, who attended the Dec. 8 rally, congratulated Falun Gong adherents for their decades of efforts to expose the CCP’s various human rights abuses.

“I can guarantee you that the world now knows a lot more about what China is doing because of what [Falun Gong is] doing and others … are doing around the world in protesting the atrocities that the Chinese government is committing against all kinds of people,” he said, adding that Beijing is now facing increased opposition within China as citizens protest severe pandemic lockdown measures.

“I don’t know how many thousands and thousands and thousands of Chinese people are now standing up in China—that takes a lot of courage, that takes a lot of guts—and I think we should raise a salute to all of those Chinese men, women, young, old that are now facing the Chinese government in a strong opposition to what they’re doing to their people.”