Citizenship and Immigration committee  There is no one here today from Amnesty International.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think that's a really good point because it gives credibility to our organization. I've done a lot of presentations. I actually did two presentations last year to Immigration and Refugee Board members in Toronto; I've been on probably 40 cases as an expert witness, and we hav

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Members have told me it's about 80%.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If the committee could accept that the Falun Dafa Association is an authority on who are true practitioners, it would probably help expedite the cases we're involved with. Again, our mandate is not to get involved with all cases, but only the ones who come to us looking for suppo

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Sorry, I should have made that clear at the beginning. I'm with the Falun Dafa Association of Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think that's the million dollar question for the IRB. It's very difficult, because Falun Gong is a spiritual belief. It's a belief system. You believe it. It becomes part of who you are. But there's no membership. There are no rituals. There's no worship. It's a belief. So what

Citizenship and Immigration committee  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.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  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

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think they'd be happy to speak on the matter, yes.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. He will go first.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  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

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, sir. Mr. Matas will speak first, but I will just introduce our panel: Shawn Li, president of the Falun Dafa Association; Carolyn Jin; and we have three witnesses with us today, practitioners, who face persecution inside China. This is Mr. David Matas.