(Clearwisdom.net) On October 12, Toronto practitioners were granted a permit to hold an activity at Toronto's Nathan Philips Square (City Hall). It is the second time this year since the May 13 World Falun Dafa Day and Canada Falun Dafa Festival that Falun Gong has held a large scale activity there.
Philips Square is the municipal square of the Toronto City Hall where city government officials and council members work. Also, it is a major tourist attraction where every day, many people from around the world come to visit. In the morning the "Journey of Falun Dafa" Photo Exhibition was set up around the square. Huge banners reading, "Truth Compassion Tolerance" and "Falun Dafa" were put up at the main stage. The stage was decorated with beautiful pinwheels, and Dafa music resonated in the air. Many practitioners came. Some demonstrated Dafa exercises; some distributed Dafa flyers and some collected signatures from the public for the urgent rescue of practitioners' family members persecuted in China.
Children from Minghui School in white practice suits lined up in the square and practiced the Dafa exercises. They attracted lots of attention. A young boy stood in front of the group and followed the movements carefully and accurately. His facial expression seemed to tell people how important Falun Dafa was to him.
The performances started, with programs that included young practitioners' Falun Gong exercise demonstration, Zheng (Chinese music instrument) Solo, sword dance, and chorus, dance. A western practitioner introduced to the audience the origin of Falun Gong, its wide acceptance around the world and the brutal persecution in China. He said that the main theme of the event was to rescue family members of Falun Gong practitioners who are persecuted in China. The "Rescue Our Family Members" campaign that was initiated in Canada has quickly evolved into a global effort to rescue family members persecuted in China. In the past three years, the Canadian government and citizens have strongly condemned the Jiang regime's persecution of the peaceful Falun Gong practitioners and extended their helping hands to rescue practitioners persecuted in China. Professor Zhang Kunlun, Ms. Zhu Ying, and Mr. Lin Shenli were successfully rescued and returned to Canada. Recently, Canadian resident Wu Yanxia's sister Wu Yanying and Canadian resident Wang Yanying's husband, Qiu Zhaojin were successfully rescued. However thousands upon thousands of families in China have been broken up due to the Jiang regime's brutal persecution. Millions of people have been deprived of their basic human rights. The signatures collected will be submitted to Prime Minister Chretien, urging him to voice Canadian citizen's wish: Stop the persecution! Release the detained Falun Gong practitioners!
There were quite a few touching stories throughout the day:
Song from the heart
Chinese community leader Mr. Hong came to the site early in the morning. He is one of the founders of "Friends of Falun Gong." He was deeply moved by the scenes and wrote a song which he sang with a practitioner and famous soloist, Ms. Wu Xue, formerly from Shenyang Army Performance Troop.
Wishes for newly-weds
While the program was going on, a newly wed couple in their formal wedding attire came to the square. They were so attracted by the program that they just sat in the audience. The host greeted the couple and expressed the wish that their marriage would be blessed with truth, compassion, and tolerance and that the rays of Falun Dafa would always surround them. Afterwards, the couple had their picture taken in front of the Falun Dafa sign.
For You We Come
At the celebration were twin brother and sister Jason and Christine. They had appealed for Falun Gong in Beijing and told the world "Falun Dafa is good." Now, standing on the stage, they sang in not so fluent Chinese, "For You We Come" with emotion.
At that moment several busloads of Chinese tourists parked along the square and witnessed the beautiful performances by the practitioners. The Chinese tourists were astonished to see how Falun Gong linked people of different races and ages together. Most of the tourists accepted the truth clarification materials. A Chinese practitioner clarified the truth through the sound system to people far away.
More practitioners came to the stage and sang the songs, "It is Good to Know the Truth," "Fa Rectifies the Cosmos," "Falun Dafa Hao," and "Embark on the Road Home." Their beautiful voices resonated above the square.
