Rally in Ottawa Calls to End Beijing’s 27-Year-Long Persecution of Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners held a rally in front of the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa on April 22, 2026. They commemorated the peaceful protest held on April 25th in 1999, a few months before Beijing launched the nation-wide persecution of Falun Gong. They condemned the ongoing persecution, and called on the public to help end the atrocities.

Twenty seven years ago, approximately ten thousand practitioners gathered in front of the State Bureau for Letters and Calls in Beijing’s central government complex. They protested by silently standing all day. They shouted no slogans, and asked the government to uphold their right to have a spiritual belief and practice Falun Gong.

Falun Gong practitioners held a rally in front of the Chinese Embassy on Wednesday, April 22, 2026 to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the April 25 peaceful appeal. They called for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong in China.

Practitioner Delivered Appeal Letters to Embassy 27 Years Ago

Scientist Dr. Lei Shizhong respects the practitioners who traveled to Beijing to speak up for Falun Gong 27 years ago. At the time he was in Canada, and he had practiced Falun Gong for two years. He felt the practitioners had done the right thing.

“April 25 in 1999, that day is worth commemorating. The peaceful appeal was reported by an international media outlet, and the international society got to see that people in China can peacefully appeal for their rights,” Lei said.

Unfortunately a few months after that, former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin launched the persecution of Falun Gong. “We must let the world know what happened in China 27 years ago, so they know that practitioners did nothing wrong. Our goal has always been the same.”

As a practitioner, Lei witnessed how slanderous the Chinese regime’s propaganda against Falun Gong was. He said that around April 25 in 1999, many practitioners outside of China went to their local embassies to give the staff letters of appeal and explain to the diplomats in their countries that Falun Gong is righteous and upright. He remembered that back then, people could walk straight up to the front gate of the embassy in Ottawa, and hand their letters to the officials because the window was wide open. The diplomat promised him that he’d pass the letter up the chain of command.

When talking about what kept him going for so many years to keep telling people about Falun Gong and the persecution, he said, “I feel I have the obligation to tell people about the facts. Falun Gong practitioners follow the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, and we insist on doing the right thing.”

Dr. He Zhenhua, also a practitioner, was attending the University of Waterloo in 1997. He said that practitioners chose to speak to the government through peaceful protest because they trusted the government. “They believed that the government would also act peacefully and properly handle the issue.”

When Dr. He was in China, he worked at the Tsinghua University and Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. At the time he was stressed and burned out. He tried many qigong practices, but nothing improved his health. After he took up Falun Gong, his mental and physical condition improved significantly, and he learned how to correctly conduct himself and deal with others.

After the April 25 appeal, Dr. He and several practitioners went to the Chinese Consulate in Toronto to express their concerns. At the time, most people still believed that Beijing would handle the issue openly and justly.

He said that through years of exposing Beijing’s evil persecution, more and more people are able to differentiate the truth from false propaganda.

Mr. Rahul Vaidyanath said that April 25 is a special date for practitioners, “It’s something with great significance. What practitioners did that day was peaceful and legitimate. In my opinion, calling it a protest is a bit much. It was people trying to communicate with the authorities, yet Beijing responded in an extremely horrid way, and launched the nation-wide persecution in July 1999.”

Vaidyanath said he encourages people to speak up, “Otherwise we condone what Beijing did. Now that we live in a free country, here we can speak up and let the public know what is happening in China. Who else will do it for us? I am proud to attend this rally every year. This is the least I can do for Falun Gong while I live in a free country. I hope the persecution ends soon.”

Condemning Beijing’s Transnational Repression

Beijing not only persecutes practitioners inside China, it also extends its reach and represses practitioners in Canada, by instigating hatred against them, monitoring their activities, threatening and harassing them, physically assaulting them, and conducting cyber attacks. It even threatens the practitioners’ families in China.

A former senior diplomat who fled China confirmed that persecuting Falun Gong practitioners is a Chinese consulate’s “routine daily task.” According to two leaked documents from Beijing, Xi Jinping ordered a coordinated operation to suppress Falun Gong practitioners outside of China. This transnational repression has escalated in the past two years, including disinformation campaigns, legal action against Falun Gong, and bomb threats. Dr. He said that Beijing’s transnational repression made more Canadians realize that the persecution of Falun Gong is a threat to communities in Canada. Letting people know about the persecution is vital in stopping this transnational repression.

Regarding Beijing’s transnational repression, Vaidyanath said, “We must let the public know what Beijing did to the artists of Shen Yun Performing Arts.” He also said that Beijing takes a very different stand compared to the Canadian government in terms of human rights, freedom of belief, and cultural performance.

More People Are Learning Falun Gong

Despite the persecution in China and the escalating transnational repression, Lei said that people continued to learn Falun Gong online and began practicing. “Thousands of people worldwide attended the online Falun Gong workshop in 2025.”

Many people experienced health benefits after they began practicing. Lei gave an example: after a workshop that ended on April 19, 2026, a practitioner said he was able to quit smoking, after years of addiction. “Similar cases happen a lot, even now, around the world,” he said.

He believes that because of its universal values, Falun Gong is embraced by people of different cultures.

The practitioners made a statement at the rally that day, “As we stand here today, we reiterate a simple and powerful principle: freedom of belief is a universal human right, across all borders, politics, and ideology. We ask the Canadian government to stop Beijing’s transnational repression of Falun Gong on Canadian soil.”

“We hope that today’s rally is a remembrance and a commitment – a commitment to remember the victims in the persecution, to support those who still live under pressure, and to be a voice for justice in peaceful ways.”