Why the anti-protest Falun Gong bylaw matters

Freedom Rally in front of City Hall on April 13

In Vancouver, Foreign influence rules

CFP, MWC by Marie Beaulieu - When former diplomat Chen Yonglin toured Canada in 2007, he exposed the Chinese regime's mandate for all Chinese embassies and consulates worldwide to influence government officials, mobilize Chinese students and the Chinese community, and control the Chinese media to influence public policy on China.

Chen revealed that the tactics include putting pressure on the officials of various western governments and exchanging political benefits by economic means. He stated that one of the most effective methods used to develop influence over political leaders is to provide them with all-expenses-paid travel to China and lavish entertainment while they are there. "This method is common to all Chinese foreign missions in the west and should come as no surprise to anybody."

In fact, former Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan boosted that he was treated like an emperor on a business trip while in China. Was it a coincidence that soon after he would shut down the Falun Gong protest outside the Chinese Consulate on Granville regardless of whether or not the Falun Gong had verbal permission from the City to be there? The protest just had to go!

A long court battle ensued with the highest court in BC supporting Falun Gong’s right to use props as part of their protest against the killing of the group at the hands of the totalitarian regime. The BC Court of Appeal urged the city to make their bylaw constitutional at which point city staff consulted the Chinese Consulate on the redrafting of the bylaw. How constitutional is that?

A couple of drafts were slipped to council at the 11^th hour, even though the city had six months to rewrite the bylaw in order to meet the court's deadline of April 19. As a result, without much public scrutiny, a broad bylaw was passed in a hurry which would only serve to limit the freedom of speech of Vancouverites all across the board.

Most importantly, the new bylaw would make it impossible for the Falun Gong to protest the genocide with the visibility that they had before, having to dismantle theirs props every 12 hours and being allowed to protest only every two months, and simply draining our Charter of Rights and Freedom by the same token.

The goal was achieved and the Chinese Consular-General had won the battle of overtly censoring free speech in a Canadian city by manipulating a city bylaw.

Councilors who voted against the bylaw were completely shocked at this scenario and so were 6000 Vancouverites who signed a petition in support of keeping the Falun Gong original protest going and keeping foreign influence out of their daily lives.

Chen had told us so! He confirmed in an affidavit used in the court battle, that one of the Consulates’ prime targets is the Falun Gong spiritual group, and that influencing local MPs and elite in thinking that they are a cult and thus discouraging any form of support and denying social programs for the group is one of their priorities. And that moreover diplomats should stress that any relationship with the Falun Gong will damage bilateral relations.

Knowing the nature of the beast and its ability to erode Canadian values, one may wonder why politicians are still not listening and insist on taking advice from freedom haters especially when Canadians have to bear the consequences. Whose interests are they protecting? If anything, the city should be siding with the victims of the genocide, not the perpetrators who have committed those crimes against humanity.

Canadians should seriously be concerned about what’s happening in Vancouver and how they treat the Falun Gong is definitely a red flag telling us that the Chinese bosses have a grip on our government officials.

Let’s not be fooled.

Allowing the corrupt Chinese communist regime to take control over our political expression and agenda here in Canada is a dangerous situation that begs for change.

Besides, China simply cannot go on killing the Falun Gong like flies forever, including Christians, Uyghurs, and monks. The jailing and torture of human rights lawyers and the Nobel laureate is unacceptable.

Sooner or later the Chinese authorities will have to be made accountable for their crimes against humanity and the world's government can no longer turn a blind eye and take things for granted, because it is affecting us right here at home.