Flag-raising ceremonies were held in multiple cities and towns across Ontario on May 13 to commemorate the public introduction of Falun Dafa more than 30 years ago. Official proclamations and congratulatory letters were also issued to mark the occasion.
At the flag-raising celebration in Barrie, Ont., on May 1, Conservative MP for Barrie-Innisfil John Brassard commended practitioners for sharing the values and principles of the practice with Canadian society.
“The values of Falun Dafa are universal values—they’re values that we hold dear as Canadians, ensuring that we are free as a nation, free to practice our faith or any other type of practice that we want,” Brassard told NTD, The Epoch Times’ sister media, during the event.
“The great compassion and forbearance demonstrated by Falun Dafa practitioners have touched the hearts of kindhearted people all over the world,” Nuttall said in a Falun Dafa Day proclamation.
Brassard also highlighted the importance of freedom of belief and Canada’s commitment to upholding it.
“Canada is a free country. It’s a democratic country where people are free to practice their faith, their rights, their religion,” he said. “They’re so fundamental to the success of any democracy, to ensure that we have those rights, and that we work to defend them as well.”
Members of the Ontario provincial parliament (MPP) Andrea Khanjin and Doug Downey also marked the event by sending congratulatory letters to practitioners.
Khanjin said that by adopting Falun Dafa’s principles, people can “build strong relationships, navigate difficult situations, and create a more compassionate world.”
“Thank you for sharing this renaissance of traditional Chinese wisdom and values, which helps to achieve a strong sense of meaning and purpose,” she wrote in a letter to practitioners.
Downey, for his part, described Falun Dafa Day as a “meaningful celebration” of spiritual discipline, inner peace, and personal growth.
A Duty to ‘Stand Up’
Brian Ostrander, mayor of Brighton, Ont., hosted a flag-raising ceremony on May 2 outside the city’s municipal centre to commemorate Falun Dafa Day. He said the practice’s values reflect principles important to Canadians.“These are the exact values that we have in Canada,” he said in an interview. “We are about the truth, we are about compassion, we are about making sure that everyone is treated fairly and equitably.”
He said all free societies have a duty to stand up against religious persecution, adding that freedom of belief is “a value we hold dear here in Brighton.”
“I think anybody facing persecution for how they worship or what they believe, regardless of where that is happening, we have a duty as a free society to stand up against that everywhere we see it happening, and everywhere we know it’s happening,” he said.
David Piccini, MPP for the riding that includes the city of Brighton, sent a congratulatory letter to practitioners, commending “the dedication that your teachings have offered to the community.”
Beyond Beijing’s Transnational Repression
Michael Prue, mayor of the Ontario town of Amherstburg, joined practitioners on May 6 for the fourth consecutive year to raise the Falun Dafa flag in front of the town’s municipal building. Prue served as an MPP for 13 years and has, on several occasions, spoken out against the persecution campaign against practitioners in China.“I’m always hoping that one day that persecution will go away and the people will be free to practice what is just a beautiful and simple thing with exercise and correct thought,” he said in an interview.
“I want to be part of that, and when it happens, I want to say I had something to do with it.”
He noted that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has attempted to target Falun Dafa practitioners in Canada, including through propaganda campaigns aimed at shaping public opinion of the practice.
Those included letters to Canadian officials to discourage them from supporting the meditative practice, physical and verbal abuse against practitioners in Canada, and intimidation of practitioners’ relatives in China.
Mayor Prue said the practice’s principles are “values that every Canadian holds dear.”
“That’s why every Canadian thinks that Falun Dafa is good,” he said. “I have never met anyone who thought that Falun Dafa was ever doing anything wrong, and even though there’s propaganda from the Chinese Communist Party, even though those kinds of things come to Canada, we try not to pay any attention to them, because we know they’re not true”
Flag-raising events were also held in the Ontario municipalities of Brock, Orangeville, and Orillia on May 12, where officials proclaimed Falun Dafa Day. Among them was Walter Schummer, mayor of the township of Brock, who said that recognizing and supporting Falun Dafa and its core values can help raise awareness about the importance of religious freedom.
“I think if our governments, whether it’s federal government, provincial, municipal, if they’re just recognizing it and supporting it worldwide, then, hopefully we will come to a day when all the countries, including China, will recognize and give those rights and freedoms,” Schummer said.
On May 13, the official day honouring the spiritual practice, the Ontario cities of Cambridge and Cornwall raised the Falun Dafa flag in recognition of the occasion.
