Friday 18 May, 2001

It is my great pleasure and honour to extend a warm welcome to everyone who has gathered today and over this whole weekend to attend Canada's first ever Falun Dafa Festival. I especially welcome our guests from abroad from the United States, France, Australia, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, and elsewhere who have invested the time and personal cost to be here with us today.

For centuries, important traditions in China have centred on the promotion of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. For centuries, these spiritual practices have been conducted, enriching their practitioners in body, mind, and spirit. Falun Dafa synthesizes these physical and spiritual practices.

Since 1992, Falun Dafa has grown to become a world-wide phenomenon. It is a tribute to the freedom that we enjoy in Canada that everyone here today can gather together to openly celebrate Falun Dafa, and to promote its awareness among our fellow citizens. It is a tribute to our freedom that we do not have to hide our practices and beliefs, for fear of persecution. This is not the case with the majority of Falun Dafa practitioners.

As we celebrate and promote the practice of Falun Dafa this weekend, it is essential that we remember the persecution to which other people are subject for doing the exact same thing in China. It is essential that we remember people like Professor Kunlun Zhang, Cuiying Zhang, and Jinyu Li, who have lived through unthinkable torture and reprisals for their practice and belief.

Until the day when all people, everywhere in the world, are free to practice Falun Dafa, such days as these will not be entirely happy and celebratory events. I welcome everyone to our nation's capital for a day of celebration, yet I also join all of you for a day of reflection upon the freedom which we often take for granted, and which is not shared by all our brothers and sisters throughout the world.

I especially extend a sincere welcome to Professor Zhang, to Cuiying Zhang, to Jinyu Li, and to Kathy Gillis for exhibiting their beautiful and remarkable artwork in this weekend's exhibition, Journeys of Peace and Beauty. Perhaps it is through such non-verbal art that we can best promote the understanding of the principles of Falun Dafa, to widen the sphere of people who are aware of the suffering of its adherents in China, and who will stand up here and around the globe to defend Falun Dafa's interests, rights, and beauty.

In the name of Truth, Compassion and Forbearance,

I remain sincerely yours,

Scott Reid, MP Lanark-Carleton