Carneys China Visit: Falun Dafa Association Calls on PM to Urge Release of Canadians Family Members Detained for Practising Falun Gong

The Falun Dafa Association of Canada is calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to urge Beijing to release 10 Falun Gong practitioners who are family members of Canadians and have been detained as prisoners of conscience in China, as he visits that country this week.The association is also asking the prime minister to raise concerns about Beijing’s transnational repression—an aggressive form of foreign interference—on Canadian soil.Falun Gong practitioners have seen a surge in hoax mass-shooting and bomb threats since 2024, with more than 160 death and bomb threats targeting their community worldwide, the association said. It noted that at least 127 of those threats were directed at Shen Yun Performing Arts, a U.S.-based non-profit classical Chinese dance company founded by practitioners of Falun Gong.“Falun Gong practitioners remain the largest group of prisoners of conscience in China,” Joel Chipkar, spokesperson of the association, said in a Jan. 11 statement. “For over 26 years, the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] has utilized state machinery to vilify detain, torture, and silence millions.”Chipkar said the persecution of Falun Gong in China “remains severe, systematic, and unabated,” adding that 750 practitioners were sentenced to lengthy prison terms in 2025 alone, many of whom he said are elderly practitioners in their eighties.The association is requesting that Carney advocate for the release of all Falun Gong practitioners, including the 10 who are family members of Canadians and have been detained as prisoners of conscience in China.The 10 family members include Lizhong He, Lanying Cong, Lijuan Gao, Yunhe Zhang, Mingguang Xie, Xingjun Li, Jiangyi Sun, Fujun E, Li Zuo, and Shuang Sun.“These families continue to suffer as their loved ones face systematic torture, abuse, and even death within the Chinese prison system, after being sentenced to up to nine years following sham trials,” Chipkar said in the Jan. 11 statement.Carney is set to visit China from Jan. 13 to 17 to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang, and business leaders as his government seeks to renew relations with Beijing. The trip will mark the first time a Canadian prime minister has visited China since Justin Trudeau in 2017.Toronto resident Lizhi He (C) speaks at a rally outside the Chinese Consulate in Toronto on Dec. 10, 2024. He called on the Chinese regime to free his brother, Lizhong He, who has been detained since January 2023 for practising Falun Gong. NTDFalun Gong PersecutionFalun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a traditional Chinese discipline that combines meditative exercises and moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. The discipline spread rapidly after it was introduced in China in 1992, and by 1999 an estimated 70 million to 100 million people had taken up the practice.While Falun Gong is currently practised in more than 100 countries worldwide, its practitioners have been heavily persecuted by the CCP for nearly three decades, with reports of arbitrary imprisonment, torture, forced labour, physical and sexual abuse, and forced organ harvesting.“This persecution has crossed borders, manifesting as transnational repression on Canadian soil,” Chipkar said.The association submitted a report to Canada’s Foreign Interference Commission in 2024, documenting more than a quarter of a century of transnational repression in Canada, including harassment, cyberattacks, surveillance, hate propaganda, violence, and interference with public events.Beyond these forms of transnational repression, Falun Gong practitioners in Canada have faced exclusion from local events, impersonation attempts, and intimidation of relatives, and elected officials have faced pressure to withdraw their support for Falun Gong, the report said.Chipkar said the prime minister’s voice in raising these issues with Chinese officials would “give hope to victims, support affected Canadian families, and send a clear message that Canada will not tolerate repression on its soil.”Curtain call at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, Ont., on March 25, 2022. The Epoch TimesTransnational Repression, Shen YunIn a Jan. 9 letter to the prime minister, the association noted its concern that transnational repression has intensified in recent years, targeting both Falun Gong practitioners and Shen Yun Performing Arts—a world-renowned classical Chinese dance company founded by Falun Gong practitioners that aims to revive traditional Chinese culture predating communism and expose the ongoing religious persecution in China.Shen Yun and the Falun Gong community have faced harassment, disinformation, surveillance, and bomb and mass-shooting threats in Canada and other democratic countries, the letter said, adding that such acts “constitute serious criminal activity.”The threats targeted theatres scheduled to host Shen Yun performances during the performing arts company’s 2025 global tour. Incidents occurred at four theatres in Canada in 2025—in Mississauga, Kitchener, Montreal, and Vancouver. The emailed threats warned of violence should the performances proceed, in an apparent attempt to shut down the performances, the association said, adding that some of the threatening messages were traced to China and “exhibited indicators suggesting involvement by Chinese authorities.”“The Government of Canada has a responsibility to raise these concerns at the highest level with Chinese leadership, to protect the safety and well-being of Canadians, and uphold the fundamental right to freedom of artistic expression for those who sought refuge and freedom in Canada,” the association said.“Beyond the harm inflicted on the Falun Gong community and Shen Yun, such actions pose a direct threat to Canada’s sovereignty, public safety, democratic values,” it added. These incidents are part of a “coordinated campaign of transnational repression aimed at silencing dissent, intimidating communities, and exerting influence over Canadian institutions,” the association said.Carolina Avendano contributed to this report.