Canada: Introducing Falun Gong at Carleton University

From January 12 through January 16, 2004, at the beginning of the winter term, the student association of Carleton University in Ottawa organized a week-long activity with a different topic for each day. The Carleton Falun Gong Association participated in the activities on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

On Tuesday, January 13, the subject was politics and human rights. Early in the morning, a Falun Gong practitioner who is also a student at the university displayed many kinds of truth-clarification materials and Falun Gong literature at our booth, which a few practitioners took turns running.

During the lunch break and after the classes, many students and professors passed our booth and took numerous pamphlets, flyers and video compact disks (VCD). Some students stopped to watch a video recording of "The Real Story of Falun Gong" and asked many questions. The most common questions were, "What is Falun Gong?" and "Why is Jiang's regime persecuting Falun Gong?"

After the practitioners provided explanations, students and professors quickly understood that Falun Gong is a cultivation path. However, the answer to "Why is Jiang's regime persecuting Falun Gong?" was hard to clearly explain in only two or three sentences.

The students and professors who understood the truth signed the petitions to "Stop Hatred Propaganda in the Community" and the postcards "Rescue Falun Gong Practitioners' Family Members in China." Some people decided to even write their own letters. Some students said, "I also want to practice Falun Gong with you. I like this kind of peaceful practice."

Many overseas students from China gladly took truth-clarification VCDs. When "The Real Story of Falun Gong" was played, a Chinese lady who stood far away watched the whole tape.

The organizer of this activity came to the Falun Gong booth and told us that a performance would be conducted on Friday to close the activities. A practitioner asked if the Falun Gong Association could join in. The organizer asked, "What will you perform?" The practitioner replied, "We can sing Falun Gong songs." The organizer was excited and clapped her hands, "I love Falun Gong!" and urged us, "you must come!"