Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 31st, 2006

[David Matas, Lawyer, Immigration and Human Rights, David Matas Barrister & Solicitor, Falun Dafa Association of Canada]

I'm going to talk first, but I'm not going to talk the longest. I'll try to be brief.

What I want to talk about is the general legal framework for the sorts of remedies we're asking this committee to endorse. We're asking the committee to resolve that the Government of Canada, first of all, grant refugee protection to Falun Gong practitioners through Canadian visa posts abroad, outside China, through the government-assisted refugee program, because the government itself each year brings in about 7,500 refugees as government-assisted refugees. So we're asking that Falun Gong be part of that number of 7,500. We ask that a specific number within the overall number be allocated to Falun Gong and that the number allocated to Falun Gong be sufficient to encompass all those who have ties to Canada, who face persecution, and who do not have a durable solution in the country they're from.

When it comes to the in-Canada situation, we realize that determinations are made by the board or by the pre-removal risk assessment officer on an individualized basis. But often there is an issue about whether somebody is Falun Dafa or not. It is sometimes a credibility issue. The Falun Dafa Association doesn't itself, obviously, make refugee determinations and can't answer in every case whether somebody is Falun Gong. But there are some people they know to be Falun Gong, and they offer themselves as a resource and ask that when they say somebody is Falun Gong, that their statement be believed.

The third context in which the issue arises is for people who are in China. Now normally we don't grant refugee protection to people who are within the country where they are facing persecution, but there is an exception called the source country class. There's a list of countries, and there are six countries on the list right now. China is not one of the countries on the list, but we would ask that China be part of that list. So that's the refugee system.

There are two components to our submission. One, we ask for protection for Falun Gong who are facing persecution. Second, we ask that people who are persecuting the Falun Gong be declared inadmissible. We ask that people be barred entry and denied visas if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they're complicit in crimes against humanity, against Falun Gong practitioners. That's fairly straightforward. That's just a replication of the language in the legislation applied to this group of people. But we would also go further than that and say that such people should be denied visas no matter what the purpose of their intended entry, whether it be for a diplomatic consular posting, for trade purposes, to attend bilateral meetings, to attend intergovernmental meetings that Canada is hosting, or for transit or any other purposes.

The problem faced right now is that there is something called the Foreign Missions and Intergovernmental Relations Act, which basically allows people who are attending events in Canada, international meetings listed in orders in council, to come in whether they're criminals against humanity or war criminals or not. What the foreign missions and intergovernmental legislation says is that this legislation supercedes the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the bar to admission in that act, when people are coming in for diplomatic consular purposes or for intergovernmental purposes. And we say that this shouldn't happen. These people should be barred no matter what the purpose for which they're coming, as long as they're complicit in crimes against humanity, against Falun Gong.

We also say that people who are in Canada, whether or not they're part of a Chinese consular or diplomatic mission, should be expelled from Canada if they're involved in incitement to hatred against Falun Gong, because that has been a problem. That is a violation of our laws, and we shouldn't be giving diplomatic or consular immunity from hate incitement laws to people who are inciting hatred against the Falun Gong from within Canada. These people, too, should be expelled from Canada.

So in a nutshell, that's our legal position and the substance of our motion. To get more to the factual basis, I'm going to hand it over to Joel Chipkar.

[Joel Chipkar]

Thank you, and I'd like to sincerely thank the immigration committee for our opportunity to present here today.

We ask you to solidify the protection of practitioners in China and in Canada, to acknowledge the expertise of Falun Dafa Association on these matters, and to protect the integrity of Canada by barring perpetrators accountable for torture and crimes against humanity towards the Falun Gong practitioners.

For those of you who don't know, Falun Gong is a profound spiritual belief. It's a cultivation practice of mind, body, and spirit that espouses the principles of truth, compassion, and forbearance. It is common knowledge that in China freedom of belief does not exist. There is no religion or spiritual discipline that exists that is not governed by the Chinese Communist Party.

In 1999, the Chairman at the time, Jiang Zemin, ordered a vicious crackdown against the persecution. Over the past seven years the persecution has penetrated all sectors of the Chinese society, covering all 30 provinces within China. The entire legal system is threatened. Lawyers and judges are ordered to not defend but criminalize Falun Gong practitioners. The entire education system forces students from kindergarten to university to condemn Falun Gong or face expulsion. State and private workplaces persecute practitioners by firing them, taking away their housing, or sending them to brainwashing classes. Citizens are rewarded for spying on and reporting on practitioners.

The persecution has led to hundreds of thousands of innocent people being jailed in prisons and forced labour camps without trial, and has resulted in thousands of deaths by torture. Some of the most barbaric methods include women being stripped naked and thrown into male criminal cells, gang rapes, forced abortions, suffocation, drug injections, burning, and electrocution.

The cases I have brought in are from NGOs, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, and Amnesty International. They represent less than 1% of the reported tortures that are happening within China today.

In November 2005, the Chinese Communist Party forcibly closed the law office of a respected lawyer called Mr. Gao Zhisheng in China who had conducted an extensive and independent investigation into the persecution of Falun Gong. Amnesty International issued an urgent action bulletin after an assassination attempt was made on his life. The following are only a few stories that he documented in his investigation.

[Ms. Chang]...lowered her head in shame while recounting her...humiliating experience in a labour camp: ... They stripped me naked, and several inmates began pinching my breasts, plucking my pubic hair, and stabbing my vagina. They used a brush that usually cleaned the water tank. ... [They] repeatedly stabbed my vagina with it. I could not bear the excruciating pain any longer and succumbed to their demand of not doing the Falun Gong exercises in the camp.

Inmates tied many knots on a thick rope and pulled it back and forth in a sawing motion across [Ms. Wang Lijun's] vagina. Her entire lower body swelled up. The head police then ordered inmates to jab her swollen vagina with the thorny end of a broken mop stick. The torture caused Ms. Wang's vagina to bleed profusely. ... I also witnessed these inmates perform this same torture on a virgin.

Mr. Liu Haibo was stripped of all his clothes and forced to kneel down. Police pushed the longest electric baton they could find [up his rectum and turned it on]. Liu died immediately on the site. ... Twenty-three practitioners were tortured to death there. I knew many of them. The police simply buried their bodies in a hole.

The persecution is nationwide and spans over 30 provinces. It is not limited to the millions of people in China who practise Falun Gong, and it has destroyed their families and friends. The entire social and moral structure of a society is being destroyed by this persecution. Third-party reports from the U.S. Department of State and Amnesty International confirm that the persecution is arbitrary, and anyone associated with Falun Gong may face danger.

On April 21, 2005, the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board recognized the widespread and systematic persecution of Falun Gong as crimes against humanity. On October 25, 2005, Amnesty International Canada confirmed their concerns about the deportation of practitioners to China, stating that Falun Gong practitioners who have come to “the attention of authorities in China through its vast intelligence network in China and abroad would be at risk of human rights violations, and therefore in need of protection”. They further state:

We are concerned about the widespread use of arbitrary detention and torture or ill-treatment against Falun Gong practitioners and reports that Chinese authorities monitor activities of Chinese activists overseas, including...Falun Gong practitioners.

There are at least 120 victims currently residing here in Canada who have faced torture, including Mr. Lizhi He, who was jailed for three and a half years and was almost killed in jail. His only crime was sending letters to his friends, trying to tell them the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong.

As the issue of protecting true Falun Gong practitioners is a matter of life and death, and with the submissions of the above information, we ask that the immigration committee pass the motion attached in this regard.

We truly appreciate your time and the opportunity to be here to discuss this issue with you today.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Have you ever applied to the international courts to have these things termed as crimes against humanity, or to Canadian courts? Has anything like that ever been done?

[David Matas]

There was a determination to that effect in the context of a refugee claimant called Guang Sheng Han. This is a reported case. He was excluded on the basis that he was complicit in crimes against humanity because he was in charge of a prison where the Falun Gong were being persecuted.

So we do have that determination within the Canadian legal system.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

I see. Thank you.

I guess you're ready for questions and discussion.

Borys, do you want to begin, or Blair?

[Rahim Jaffer, Conservative, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Chair, I just wanted to pass on some information before we get to questions. I think it's something the committee would be willing to hear.

I notice we have some guests here who have had personal experience. I know we usually give only so much time to the presenters, but I'm wondering, if they're able, if we could allow maybe two or three minutes for them to share some of their experiences. I think it speaks to the point of what's happening, especially if you have witnesses here who've dealt with the problems themselves.

I don't know if the committee and the witnesses would be--

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Would you want to proceed in that fashion, Mr. Chipkar? Do you think it would be fair for us to ask representatives here who actually underwent torture to give us a couple of minutes, if they're comfortable doing that?

[Rahim Jaffer, Conservative, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I don't want to put them in a bad situation, but if it's--

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

We're very informal here today, and if they want to say a word or two, fine. If not, we can go to our committee members, who can ask questions. It's up to them.

[Joel Chipkar]

I think they'd be happy to speak on the matter, yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

And it's okay with the committee? Okay.

Okay, you proceed in whatever way you wish, and say whatever you want.

[Joel Chipkar]

Mr. He will go first.

[Lizhi He, Falun Gong practitioner, Falun Dafa Association of Canada]

Thank you.

I began my Falun Gong practice in 1995 and benefited a lot from the practice. I worked in the Ministry of Construction in China as a senior engineer. In 1999, with the persecution of Falun Gong, I realized there would be no freedom of belief in China, so I applied for immigration to Canada.

In 2000 my immigration application was approved, but just before I was prepared to move to Canada, I was arrested, simply because I sent personal letters to my friends trying to clarify the truth to them. I wanted them to know the persecution was based on lies and that wasn't really beneficial to people and the nation. I didn't realize all that time I was followed, monitored, and my letters were intercepted. Later I was charged with trying to sabotage the political solidarity of China. I was arrested and sent to prison for three and a half years.

In prison I suffered a lot physically and mentally. When I was detained I was stripped naked, and they poured cold water over my body. I had a high fever for almost two months. Later I was transferred to another place, and I was forced to do tough physical drills like endless running and jumping. This kind of physical punishment almost devastated my health. When I was on the verge of death I was sent to a prison, and the physical examination proved my lung adhered to my diaphragm because I had had a high fever for a long time. The X-ray showed my lung wasn't clear. I could not even take short breaths, and I also had other problems like very serious kidney problems. I cough a lot and urinate a lot.

Despite my poor health, I was shocked with tens of thousands of volts by an electric baton because I still refused to give up my belief. I also suffered mentally because every day in the prison I was forced to watch videos that purposely fabricated bloody scenes of suicides and killings. I watched them hour by hour every day, and it was worse than slavery I think. After three and half years I was released, in January 2004.

Again, I'm very grateful the Canadian government gave me permission to move to Canada . I was reunited with my wife in May 2004.

This is a great opportunity. I say thanks.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

So you're a Canadian citizen now?

[Lizhi He]

I'm now a permanent resident.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Well, thank you. That's something.

[Joel Chipkar]

Mr. Chair, maybe we'll move on and answer their questions, and then if we have time we can come back to the other witnesses.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Borys, go ahead, please

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the presenters, especially the people who have had this horrible first-hand experience at the hands of Chinese authorities.

I think what we just heard speaks to the fact that this isn't just an aberration. We've heard that in 1999 there was an actual government decision. We have heard a witness speak about different types of interrogation and torture that take place. The fact that there are produced videos indicates a very methodical state-sponsored approach. It's not an aberration. It's not just that in certain places maybe there are particularly sadistic people, or that in certain provinces local governments take a particular stand. I think it speaks to China's position and the tools they are willing to use.

Amnesty International says there are approximately 2,500 practitioners who are incarcerated. Does that correspond approximately with the number you believe are incarcerated? How many practitioners are there in China?

[Joel Chipkar]

In 2001, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation did an investigative report. They put the persecution into a stark context, and I quote:

Falun Gong practitioners make up close to half the number of Chinese people being held in labour camps, a process that requires no legal or judicial ruling.

We know that there are thousands upon thousands of practitioners who've been murdered in police custody. We know there are hundreds of thousands of practitioners who are being held in labour camps. The Falun Dafa Association can only confirm approximately 2,800 people who've died.

We can't just fabricate a number. We would like to give it more of a truthful context, but we can't because there's a huge cover-up campaign happening, and to get media in to investigate is impossible. Reporters Without Borders has condemned China for a complete media blockage on the persecution of Falun Gong.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Mr. Li, please go ahead.

[Xun, Shawn) Li (President, Falun Dafa Association of Canada]

I have a few comments.

First, regarding the number of people detained, Amnesty International had a list through their own verification channels. The number we have is consistent with what ABC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, reported, and about 50% of the people are jailed in forced labour camps. According to a reliable source, the labour camp figure is between a quarter of a million and two million people. I believe at least 100,000 are currently jailed. Of course, many people are jailed and released, and we know the number of people detained for a brief time is in the millions. So the number of people affected is really large.

Secondly, at least 2,862 people are identified, verified as cases, and we have our channels to verify that number. But as Joel mentioned, because of the information blockage and the cover-up, the real figures may be much higher than those numbers.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

And the second part of the question, any approximation of the number of practitioners in China--the approximate number?

[Xun (Shawn) Li]

In early 1999, before the crackdown, the government estimated practitioners in the range of 70 million to 100 million. It was widely reported by different media. So this is one of the reasons--they surpassed the 33 million Communist Party members at that time--and it's because of their jealousy; they wanted control and authority. This was one of the reasons they cracked down. So the number in China is 70 million to 100 million.

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thank you.

That's an interesting point and it leads to my next question. How many so-called “heretical” organizations are there? It's an actual term the government uses. How many heretical organizations, or organizations with that designation, are there in China?