Canada: Mural Painting In the Campus of Carleton University, Ottawa

Carleton University in Ottawa, the capital of Canada is a famous university in North America especially for its engineering programs. Because of its multicultural character of its students' backgrounds, various kinds of student clubs have been spontaneously established. To lay out the rich and colourful campus culture, Carleton University decided to make use of the tunnel which connects the student activity centre with all other buildings on the campus as the "great gallery" to display each club's features.

On April 29, I went to visit the tunnel of the Carleton University Student Activity centre. When I entered the centre, a piece of mural painting pleasing to both eyes and mind with mild colours, greeted me. A young and slender girl was doing the Falun Dafa sitting meditation. The background was a blue sky with thin clouds. The girl was sitting on a globed shape symbolising the world. Jeannette said that she did not know what to draw at first, then she started to practise the Falun Gong exercises and study the Fa. Later, she felt that Falun Dafa was peaceful and beautiful and it belonged to the entire world. Therefore, she wanted to have the entire world manifested in her painting. A person was quietly meditating on the earth. And she wrote words of "Falun Dafa" and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" on the painting. Many people who came through this door said with a smile, "It looks pretty good!"

When passing by, many students and professors slowed down their steps and watched Jeannette painting on the spot. A professor said when I interviewed him, "I know much about Falun Gong and I am also aware of the persecution occurring in China. It was they (the few authorities) who considered that their power was threatened. In fact, Canadian government officials knew the truth about the Jiang's persecution of Falun Gong. However, they put trade interests in front of human rights. Actually, human rights are more important." When I asked him how he looked at the issue that Canada provided China financial support, he said, "One has to look at this from two aspects. If this financial support was used to persecute religious beliefs, they should not be given. But there is no problem if the support was used for welfare and healthcare."

A professor from Engineering Department loved the painting very much. He expressed his wish of a quick ending to the China's (Chinese authorities') persecution of Falun Gong.

After a few days' hard work, Jeannette finished her painting on May 3.