The LIEbranos did not show much respect towards their provincial betheran seeking another mandate by dropping a frederal writ just before their polling day. That faux pas may cost them dearly
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-election-day-1.6142905
Nova Scotians head to polls today as provincial election race tightens
Liberals seeking 3rd straight majority, but campaign has stumbled at times
Nova Scotians head to the polls today in a provincial election some insiders predict could be so close that the result won't be known until Wednesday.
When Liberal Leader Iain Rankin called the election last month, the province was entering a period of newfound freedom as public health protocols related to the COVID-19 pandemic were easing. Most regular activities could proceed with few restrictions and fully vaccinated people could travel freely in and out of the province.
The Liberals, who have been in power since 2013, were hoping to ride the positive vibe, coupled with a traditionally sleepy summer campaign, to a third straight majority win. But the party stumbled out of the gate and its campaign struggled to find momentum amid opposition attacks.
This is the first campaign for Rankin as Liberal leader after replacing Stephen McNeil, who retired in February after 17 years in politics; he spent the last eight as premier.
Not long after Rankin launched his campaign, one of his candidates dropped out, citing concerns for her mental health. But Robyn Ingraham later updated her statement, saying party officials suggested she blame her mental health when the real reason was some people were uncomfortable with boudoir-style photographs she shared of herself online prior to the start of the election.
Rankin speaks during a campaign stop on July 23. The provincial Liberals are hoping to secure a third straight majority win, but 11 of the party's incumbents are not running again. (Robert Short/CBC)
Rankin, who just weeks before the campaign started, acknowledged he'd twice been charged with drinking and driving in his 20s, struggled to address the fallout from Ingraham's departure head on.
The story dragged on for much of the campaign's first week, overshadowing the party leader's attempts to highlight the government's management of the pandemic, the affordable child-care deal it signed with Ottawa just before the election was called, and the party's election platform.
Meanwhile, Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston and NDP Leader Gary Burrill each locked on issues Rankin and the Liberals have been unable to sufficiently deflect.
After largely being absent from the spotlight for 18 months during the pandemic, for the last 30 days Houston and the Tories have pounded the issue of health care, pointing to the province's growing list of people without a family doctor (about 71,000 at last count), problems with ambulance availability and shortcomings in the long-term care system they say the Liberals were slow to address during their previous two mandates.
Burrill, meanwhile, has drawn attention to a surging real estate market fuelled by people moving to Nova Scotia during the pandemic. It's led to house prices outstripping the means of many locals, along with a lack of supply.
Even more so, however, the NDP have highlighted a skyrocketing rental market that's seen many long-time renters faced with pending increases well beyond what they can afford. The government brought in temporary rent control last fall, but only Burrill and the NDP have promised to make it permanent.
Progressive Conservative Leader Houston, shown in Halifax on July 22, has been pounding on the issue of health care throughout the provincial election campaign, including the growing number of people without family doctors and problems with ambulance availability. (Jeorge Sadi/CBC)
For a party that once dominated seats in the metro Halifax area, that message appears to have caught on, with Burrill pointing to many examples of real people affected. And while Halifax has been the epicentre of the housing crisis, the NDP also believe they can make gains with the issue in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
Amid challenges from the opposition and many races that are perceived to be tight, Rankin must also contend with the fact that 11 Liberal incumbents, many of them long-term political veterans who could be counted on for a win, are not running again.
The Liberals frame this as a chance for Rankin to seek a mandate of his own with a team that shares his vision of confronting climate change while expanding educational opportunities and economic development and addressing shortcomings in the health-care system.
On Monday, the campaign's last full day, Rankin predicted his party would win a majority government. Houston, meanwhile, also appears to sense a path to victory and called on voters to help make it a reality.
Burrill, the provincial NDP leader, speaks to reporters during his party's election campaign launch. The party has drawn attention how the surging real estate market is pricing out locals, as well as how long-time renters are facing high rents. (Michael Gorman/CBC)
As for Burrill, he said what was anticipated to be a sleepy campaign 30 days ago has turned out to be anything but, as more and more people have become engaged in recent weeks and are receptive to his party's message.
While the Liberals, NDP and Tories are expected to win most, if not all 55 of the seats up for grabs, several high-profile Independents and candidates representing the Green Party of Nova Scotia and Atlantica Party are also hoping for electoral breakthroughs. Neither party has had a representative in the legislature before and they've struggled to catch on with voters.
How long it will take to count the votes cast remains up in the air.
Polls close at 8 p.m. AT. Almost 177,000 people cast advanced ballots — about 58,000 more than in the 2017 provincial election.
Officials with Elections Nova Scotia have said they would cut off vote counting at midnight to avoid worker fatigue and potential human error if the work is not close to being completed. In that case, the count would resume at 10 a.m. AT on Wednesday.
Many folks have a long memory and Trudeau certainly acts like he already has the 'basic dictatorship' he declared that he admired years ago
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-consequences-public-servants-vaccines-1.6143735
Trudeau warns of 'consequences' for public servants who duck COVID-19 shots
Trudeau says 'public service' dropped online message saying unvaccinated bureaucrats could get tests instead
Speaking at a campaign stop in Markham, Ont., Trudeau pushed back against Conservative claims that the government's vaccination policy is not all that different from what their leader, Erin O'Toole, has proposed to ensure the safety of federal workplaces.
"We're unequivocal that civil servants must be vaccinated. If anyone doesn't have a legitimate medical reason for not getting fully vaccinated — or chooses to not get vaccinated — there will be consequences," Trudeau said, without explaining what sort of punishment a bureaucrat could face for shunning the vaccine.
The Treasury Board Secretariat — the central government agency that is nominally the employer of all public servants — posted a letter online recently saying bureaucrats who refuse vaccination can instead undergo rapid testing before starting a shift. O'Toole, who is firmly opposed to mandatory vaccination, has proposed a similar policy, saying all Canadians should be allowed to choose whether they get vaccinated.
O'Toole said that, rather than requiring that public servants and travellers get the shot, a government led by him would require them to pass a rapid test before going into work or, in the case of travellers, boarding a bus, train, plane or ship.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole speaks to the media as he launches his election campaign in Ottawa on Sunday. O'Toole has come out against mandatory vaccinations for federal public servants. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)
The Treasury Board yanked the message from its website late Monday after the Conservatives held it up as evidence that Trudeau's hard line on vaccinations was all for show, and accused him of trying to mislead Canadians about how the vaccine mandate would be enforced.
Conservatives call for investigation of deleted message
In a letter to Janice Charette, the interim clerk of the Privy Council and head of the civil service, Conservative candidate Michael Barrett called the letter's removal a "serious breach of the caretaker convention"— which says the machinery of government must act with restraint and avoid "controversial" matters during an election period.
Barrett alleges someone in the Liberal party or close to Trudeau "directed the deletion" of the letter to serve a "partisan rationale."
"The government does not show restraint, in an election period, when it conscripts persons in the bureaucracy to intervene for partisan political purposes. Unfortunately, that is exactly what has occurred on the first full day of the 44th general election," Barrett said.
"On close inspection, the vaccine policy set by the Liberal government mirrors that of the Conservative Party of Canada, despite the Liberal Party of Canada's unfounded critiques of our policy. When members of the media noted this similarity, the government policy was deleted from public-facing website."
Barrett said the party "requires that an immediate investigation be conducted to identify all individuals, both from the bureaucracy and the Liberal government partisan political staff, who were involved in the decision."
Asked Tuesday if he or anyone on his team asked the department to drop the vaccination policy from the website, Trudeau said the message was removed because it was "erroneous" and "didn't reflect government policy."
WATCH: Trudeau says all federal leaders should encourage Canadians to get fully vaccinated
"It was brought down by the public service," he said. "It would be wonderful if the Conservatives under Erin O'Toole took the same position as us for the public service or anyone taking a train or plane. Unfortunately, that is not their position. They're not there to defend the safety of Canadians."
The federal policy — hastily announced Friday only two days before the election campaign launched — would make vaccines mandatory for federal employees and those working in some federally regulated industries (airlines and railways, among others) in an effort to boost stalled vaccination rates.
Have an election question for CBC News? Email us: Ask@cbc.ca. Your input helps inform our coverage.
Find out who's ahead in the latest polls with our Poll Tracker.
While the timeline remains sketchy, the government has said federal public servants have until sometime in September — and transport workers have until some point in October — to get both doses of the vaccine to be in compliance with the new order.
The government said it also "expects" that Crown corporations and other employers in federally regulated sectors — like banking, broadcasting and telecommunications — will require vaccination for their employees. "The government will work with these employers to ensure this result," the government said in a statement announcing the new mandate.
Beyond the mandatory vaccination requirement for federal employees, the government will impose a similar mandate on certain travellers.
Starting soon, all commercial air travellers and passengers on interprovincial trains and large marine vessels with overnight accommodations (such as cruise ships) will have to be vaccinated.
Trudeau said today the government is negotiating the finer points of this plan with public sector unions. Two of those unions, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), have said they support the mandate in principle.
"PSAC supports measures to increase vaccination rates, including vaccination requirements for federal public service workers to protect our members, their colleagues and our communities," said PSAC president Chris Aylward in a statement.
WATCH: O'Toole says vaccines are critical but should not be used to divide Canadians
Canada is now a world leader in immunizations, with more than 82 per cent of the eligible population having been vaccinated with at least one dose. But the pace of vaccinations has slowed considerably since a blitz in April and May, with well below 100,000 first shots handed out each day.
With a fourth wave of new infections hitting Canada, experts say boosting vaccine coverage will protect the country's health care system from again being overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.
Singh says he supports disciplining the unvaccinated 'in rare cases'
Trudeau is not alone in proposing penalties for federal workers who refuse a shot. Speaking at an event promoting made-in-Canada personal protective equipment (PPE), NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said today that while public servants have a right to choose not to get vaccinated, "there will be consequences" for those who don't.
"Our goal is to protect people and to keep people safe," he said.
Singh said, under his plan, an unvaccinated federal employee who works in a public-facing role could be moved out of their job.
"For employees who still refuse to be vaccinated, without a reason related to health status, we would expect that the collective agreement would be followed. All collective agreements include a process for progressive discipline — up to and including termination. Discipline should always be a last resort, but may be necessary in rare cases to protect the health and safety of Canadians," he said.
WATCH: Singh says: 'People will have the choice not to get vaccinated, but there will be consequences'
People's Party Leader Maxime Bernier called the mandate "immoral, illegal and unconstitutional."
"We believe in freedom of choice. Everyone must be free to decide whether they want a vaccine or not — with informed consent. We'll fight against these Draconian measures," he said.
Bernier, who is unvaccinated, has been among the most vocal opponents of COVID-19 related measures like lockdowns and masking. In June, Bernier was arrested in Manitoba for defying public health orders.
"I don't want to be in a society where people are asking, 'Show me your papers.' We will have two classes of citizens. That must change, we are not in a communist country," Bernier said.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet was also skeptical of the policy's constitutionality.
"I don't think the federal government can dictate that," he said. "That is the power and responsibility of Quebec."
In fact, Ottawa has authority over people who work in federally regulated sectors.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/federal-election-new-brunswick-1.6142649
Three N.B. ridings to watch as Canada heads into an election
Fredericton, Miramichi-Grand Lake, Saint John-Rothesay expected to be hotly contested
Three New Brunswick constituencies have been identified by the political parties as key races that could help determine whether Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau gets the majority he wants, or even loses power to the Conservatives.
Fredericton is getting the most attention.
Green candidate Nicole O'Byrne says she's been fielding media calls from across the country about whether she can hold one of only three seats her party won last time.
"They see it as a bellwether to see whether the Green Party's going to be able to move forward or not," she said as she dropped off a sign order at a local print shop Monday morning.
Nicole O'Byrne, Green Party candidate for Fredericton, was selected to run for the riding after former Green MP Jenica Atwin joined the Liberals. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
She has also seen donations to her campaign coming from party supporters as far afield as Ontario and British Columbia.
"They know that the Greens need to win this seat to maintain a presence in Parliament."
Fredericton's unique storyline
The riding features a unique storyline: it saw Green MP Jenica Atwin defect to the Liberals two months ago. If Atwin can win as a Liberal, Trudeau is one seat closer to his goal.
The Conservatives are also contenders. Andrea Johnson, who placed a close second to Atwin last time, is on the ballot again.
"I think my chances are just as good as they were last time," Johnson said as she started setting up her campaign headquarters in downtown Fredericton. "It was a tight three-way race."
She says she's already hearing something from voters that she wasn't hearing in 2019: "People are worried about the spending. There's an excessive amount of spending."
Andrea Johnson, Conservative candidate for the Fredericton riding, says she thinks her chances of winning the seat are as good as they were when she came close to taking it in the 2019 election. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
Miramichi-Grand Lake
Fredericton may be the only close three-way race in the province, but it's not the only contest high in drama.
Miramichi-Grand Lake was one of the closest races in the country last time around, with the Liberals holding it by only 370 votes.
Winner Pat Finnigan is not running for re-election this time. Instead, former Liberal provincial cabinet minister and MLA Lisa Harris is the party's candidate.
She's facing another MLA and former cabinet minister, Conservative Jake Stewart.
"I certainly wasn't afraid to take him on," Harris said. "I knew he was [nominated] before I put my name in."
Saint John-Rothesay
Saint John-Rothesay is the third race to watch in the province, another battle of high-profile candidates that is expected to be close.
Two-term Liberal MP Wayne Long, who has pitched himself as someone willing to buck the party line when the riding needs him to, is up against former Saint John Mayor Mel Norton.
Political scientist J.P. Lewis of the University of New Brunswick in Saint John says while most voters cast ballots based on leaders and issues, the Saint John-Rothesay race may be an exception.
"Here it really fees like it is Long versus Norton. …. It would really surprise me if either candidate ran away with it."
Expect most, but not all leaders to visit
With three close races, New Brunswick voters can expect to see most of the federal leaders drop in during the next 35 days.
Trudeau included Miramichi on a recent pre-campaign trip to the province. O'Toole was there as well, and also in Fredericton and Saint John.
And NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh made a brief stop last week in Bathurst.
But one federal leader who probably won't be seen in New Brunswick is Annamie Paul of the Greens.
Green Party Leader Annamie Paul likely won't be visiting Fredericton ahead of the Sept. 20 election. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)
Facing internal dissent over her leadership, Paul plans to focus almost exclusively on the riding where she's running, even if that means forgoing a visit to one of the three Green ridings from 2019.
"She's doing everything that she can to win Toronto Centre," O'Byrne says.
"Given the fact that it's a very, very short campaign window of 36 days, it's unlikely she'll be here, but it's possible. She's doing her best to work her schedule."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Me, Myself and I
Apr 2, 2013David Amos
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/ndp-gets-help-from-democracy-expert-1.629834
NDP gets help from democracy expert
An international expert on democracy has flown all the way from Egypt to help NDP candidate John Carty campaign in Fredericton.
Dominic Cardy is with a group called The National Democratic Institute. Its members include such people as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The group's mission is to teach democratic values and spread democracy around the world.
Cardy has taught about democracy in Algeria, Bangladesh, and Cambodia during the past few years. When he heard his friend John Carty was running for office back in his home town of Fredericton, he hopped on a plane.
"It was a strange experience," Cardy said. "One evening I was watching the sun go down over the pyramids, and the next evening watched it go down over Fredericton airport as I came into land."
Cardy is no relation to the NDP candidate. But he loves elections and loves getting people pumped up about democracy.
Carty the candidate is running against federal Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott, Conservative Pat Lynch, Green candidate Philip Duchastel and independent David Amos. The riding has sent Scott to Ottawa for the last four elections, despite the best efforts of the other parties.
Cardy says he doesn't care how tough the race his he just wants people to participate in the process. "People have forgotten how incredibly precious these gifts that our ancestors fought for are and were just giving them away. It makes me furious when I talk to people and people just say 'ah there's no point in voting.'"
After election day, Dominic Cardy is flying back home to his wife in Kathmandu, Nepal. He hopes to leave behind a new Member of Parliament for Fredericton, his friend John Carty for the NDP.
'Landslide Annie' expects another close race
Alberta's lone Liberal MP expects she'll be in another close race for her Edmonton seat.
In 2004, Anne McLellan won her Edmonton Centre riding by about 700 votes over Conservative candidate Laurie Hawn, who's in the race again.
"It's always close," McLellan acknowledged. "I have fought four elections. All of them have been close and I don't expect this one to be any different.
"We will work very hard and at the end of the day, it's up to the voters of Edmonton Centre."
Known as "Landslide Annie" for her previous squeaker victories, McLellan won by just 12 votes in her first election in 1993, followed by a 1,400 lead in 1997 and a 733-vote edge in 2000.
Hawn, a former fighter pilot, says defeating McLellan would be a coup.
"She has to take responsibility as the deputy prime minister of a government that has, frankly, let Canadians down," Hawn said. "It's time for Canadians to pass judgment on that."
Hawn says his campaign team is larger this election, while McLellan says she'll be using a formula that's proven to work four other times.
Donna Martyn is running in Edmonton Centre for the NDP, while David Parker is carrying the Green flag.
In 2004, Albertans elected two Liberals â McLellan and David Kilgour, who won in Edmonton-Beaumont and later quit the party to sit as an Independent. He is not running in this election.
Voters will go to the polls Jan. 23.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vugUalUO8YY&feature=emb_title
RCMP Sussex New Brunswick
David William KilgourPC (born February 18, 1941) is a human rights activist, author, former lawyer, and Canadian politician. He is also a Senior Fellow to the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
Kilgour graduated from the University of Manitoba in economics in 1962 and the University of Toronto law school in 1966. From crown attorney in northern Alberta to Canadian Cabinet minister, Kilgour ended his 27-year tenure in the House of Commons of Canada as an Independent MP. Upon retirement, he was one of the longest current serving members of parliament and one of the very few who had been elected under both the Progressive Conservative and Liberal banners.
David MatasCM (born 29 August 1943) is the senior legal counsel of B'nai Brith Canada who currently resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He has maintained a private practice in refugee, immigration, and human rights law since 1979, and has published various books and manuscripts.
Criticizing impunity for human rights abuses, Matas stated: "Nothing emboldens a criminal so much as the knowledge he can get away with a crime."Report Vietnam Human Rights Advocacy Day on Parliament Hill
for the southeastern area of Edmonton, Alberta
May 1979 until January 2006
FOCUS
HONG KONG
 British parliamentarian call for sanctions against Carrie Lam |
- Xi Jinping's Road Is Getting Narrower and Narrower, Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article: A1405-W1008, July 20, 2021
- Hong Kong Watch receives Democracy Courage Tribute award from World Movement for Democracy, By Benedict Rogers | Hong Kong Watch, July 8, 2021
- What the Government should do next to help Hong Kongers, By Benedict Rogers | ConservativeHome, July 1, 2021
- Hong Kong Watch announces new patrons in US, Canada and UK in Global Advocacy Drive, Hong Kong Watch, June 29, 2021
- Newspaper's 'murder' marks death of press freedom in Hong Kong, UCA NEWS, June 28, 2021
- China’s Crackdown on Hong Kong, By Claire Moses | THE NEW YORK TIMES, June 23, 2021
- We must stand with Hong Kong’s embattled journalists, By Johnny Patterson | INDEPENDENT, June 20, 2021
Click here for more on this topic
UYGHURS / XINJIANG
 Multi-faith Hannukah candle lighting in mid-December at Embassy of China in Ottawa regarding Uyghur genocide |
- No Space Left to Run: China’s Transnational Repression of Uyghurs, UHRP, June 24, 2021
- New report documents the complicity of Pakistan and Afghanistan in China’s transnational repression of Uyghurs, For immediate release, Uyghur Human Rights Project, August 11, 2021
- Wanted by China: Europe is failing as a safe haven for Chinese dissidents, SAFEGUARD DEFENDERS, August 10, 2021
- Canadian churches shouldn’t remain silent on religious oppression in China, By CHRISTOPHER WHITE AND MARGARET MCCUAIG-JOHNSTON | THE GLOBE AND MAIL, August 2, 2021
- Chinese Sources - Xinjiang Documentation Project, UBC
- CFU Condemns CCP’s Blocking Visit to Professor Ilham Tohti, Campaign for Uyghurs, 30 July 2021
- Rushan Abbas’s Remarks at Victims of Communism Captive Nations Summit, Campaign for Uyghurs, 21 July 2021
- China's monstrous abuse of Uyghur Muslims, By GEOFFREY CAIN | THE DAILY MAIL, 9 July 2021
- The Uyghur tragedy and the case for moving the Winter Olympic Games from Beijing, by Benedict Rogers | THE TABLET, July 2021
- CFU Applauds Release of UK Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee Report, By Julie | CAMPAIGN FOR UYGHURS, July 9, 2021
- 75 Canadian Imams Express Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples at Friday Prayer Congregations, JUSTICE FOR ALL CANADA, July 8, 2021
- Campaign for Uyghurs to receive Democracy Courage Tribute from World Movement for Democracy, By Babur | CAMPAIGN FOR UYGHURS, July 6, 2021
Click here for more on this topic
MYANMAR
 Han Lay, Miss Grand Myanmar |
- Daily Stories from The Irrawaddy for 08/03/2021
- Myanmar Coup Updates for July 23, Richardson Center for Global Engagement， June 23, 2021
- Cut junta's lifelines to prevent Myanmar's total collapse, By Benedict Rogers | UCANEWS, July 22, 2021
- Myanmar is on the verge of collapse, By Benedict Rogers | THE SPECTATOR, July 21, 2021
- Letters from Burma, June 18, 2021
- Beyond the Coup in Myanmar: Don’t Let the Light of Education Be Extinguished, Human Rights@Harvard Law, June 17, 2021
- Weekly Updates on Current Situation in Myanmar, Permanent Mission of Myanmar, New York, May 24, 2021
- Today's Burma News, May 22, 2021
Click here for more on this topic
PEOPLE
 Human rights lawyer David Matas |
- Human rights lawyer David Matas continues to fight for the dispossessed, By Zena Olijnyk | CANADIAN LAWYER, July 2, 2021
DAVID'S ARTICLES
- IRAN’S NEW PRESIDENT LAST PERSON MIDDLE EAST NEEDS TODAY, Message of Hon. David Kilgour, co-chair of NGO Canadian Friends of a Democratic Iran, to a rally near Parliament Hill, Ottawa. 3 August 2021
- ORGAN PILLAGING FROM PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE ACROSS CHINA, Message by Hon. David Kilgour, J.D., Washington DC webinar, July 28, 2021
- Are political parties undermining democratic practices? By Jean-Paul Ruszkowski and David Kilgour | Toronto Sun, July 25, 2021
- CPP Investments must stop investing in companies benefiting from Uyghur persecution, BY IRWIN COTLER AND DAVID KILGOUR | THE GLOBE AND MAIL, July 18, 2021
- Iran's new president will bring more instability to Middle East, By David Kilgour | TORONTO SUN, July 5, 2021
- RELOCATE OR BOYCOTT 2022 BEIJING WINTER AND PARALYMPIC OLYMPICS, Statement by Hon. David Kilgour, J.D. of International Support for Uyghurs (ISU), Parliament Hill, Ottawa, 23 June, 2021
- Maintaining Fragile Peace in Ukraine, By David Kilgour & Dmytro Pavel | NEW DELHI TIMES, June 7, 2021
- Maintaining fragile peace in Ukraine, By Dmytro Pavel and David Kilgour | Toronto Sun, June 4, 2021
- David Kilgour | Chine: gouvernement criminel ? NTD Français, May 22, 2021
Click here for more on this topic
SPECIAL TOPICS
ORGAN PILLAGING / PERSECUTION OF FALUN GONG
- What's on ETAC's Social Media this week? END TRANSPLANT ABUSE IN CHINA, August 10, 2021
- What's on ETAC's Social Media this week? END TRANSPLANT ABUSE IN CHINA, August 5, 2021
- UK: Stop Anatomic Exhibitions of “Real Bodies”—of Chinese Prisoners, By Ruth Ingram | BITTER WINTER, August 4, 2021
- What's on ETAC's Social Media this week? END TRANSPLANT ABUSE IN CHINA, July 28, 2021
- What's on ETAC's Social Media this week? END TRANSPLANT ABUSE IN CHINA, July 21, 2021
- What's on ETAC's Social Media this week? END TRANSPLANT ABUSE IN CHINA, July 11, 2021
- What's on ETAC's Social Media this week? END TRANSPLANT ABUSE IN CHINA, July 7, 2021
- What's on ETAC's Social Media this week? END TRANSPLANT ABUSE IN CHINA, June 30, 2021
- Canadian lawmakers urged to approve bill to end forced organ harvesting in China, China Alarm, June 17, 2021
- What's on ETAC's Social Media this week? END TRANSPLANT ABUSE IN CHINA, June 16, 2021
- Forced organ harvesting reports in China spark UN concern , FREEDOMUNITED, June 14, 2021
Click here for more on this topic
CORONAVIRUS
- Beijing doubles down on baseless 'US origins' Covid conspiracy as Delta outbreak worsens, By Nectar Gan and Steve Georgen | CNN, August 6, 2021
- August 4, 2021, By Heather Cox Richardson | Letters from an American
- China Rejects WHO Plan for Second Phase of COVID Origin Probe, By ZACHARY EVANS | NATIONAL REVIEW, July 22, 2021
- July 16, 2021, By Heather Cox Richardson | Letters from an American
- Canada has worst pandemic economic performance among comparable nations: MLI’s COVID Misery Index, MLI, June 17, 2021
- Timeline: How the Wuhan lab-leak theory suddenly became credible, By Glenn Kessler | WP, May 25, 2021
- International overview of COVID-19 responses and effects, By Niels Veldhuis | Fraser Institute, May 26, 2021
- Timely Access to New Pharmaceuticals in Canada, the United States, and the European Union, By Bacchus Barua et al | Fraser Institute, May 13, 2021
- May 4, 2021, By Heather Cox Richardson | Letters from an American
- Russia’s problematic vaccine diplomacy, By Natasha Frost | THE NEW YORK TIMES, May 2, 2021
Click here for more on this topic
CHINA TRIBUNAL
 An independent people's tribunal has unanimously concluded on June 17 in London, that prisoners of conscience have been and continue to be killed in China for their organs on a significant scale, after a year-long investigation. |
- China Tribunal Final Judgment Film - 2019 (English), End Transplant Abuse, August 27, 2019
- China Tribunal in London - Media Coverage Summary
- Startling China organ claims raise alarm about transplant research, By David Cyranoski | nature.com, June 25, 2019
GENERAL TOPICS
HUMAN DIGNITY
- Enough with Western hypocrisy over Afghanistan, By Waslat Hasrat-Nazimi | DW, August 16, 2021
- Social security comes to America. By Heather Cox Richardson | Letters from an American, August 14, 2021
- How the Media Could Regain the Public's Trust, By Aaron Rhodes | LAW & LIBERTY, August 10, 2021
- Religious Freedom in India Is in Trouble, By Abijah Crawford | PROVIDENCE, August 2, 2021
- Why is Taiwan not called Taiwan at the Olympics? FRANCE24, July 28, 2021
- Coca-Cola Representative Refuses To Say If China Is Committing Genocide Against Uyghurs, The Daily Caller, July 28, 2021
- Irwin Cotler address at antisemitism conference, Raoul Wallenberg Centre, July 23, 2021
- CHINA: More Tibetan Buddhists behind bars in July, Human Rights Without Frontiers International, July 23, 2021
Click here for more on this topic
GOVERNANCE
- Twenty years of Afghanistan mistakes, but this preventable disaster is on Biden, By Max Boot | THE WASHINGTON POST, August 15, 2021
- The Tragedy of Afghanistan, By The Editorial Board | THE NEW YORK TIMES, August 15, 2021
- Afghanistan, By Heather Cox Richardson | Letters from an American, August 15, 2021
- Canada has big decisions to make on China, By Michael Bociurkiw | CNN, August 13, 2021
- Why the Quad Alarms China - Its Success Poses a Major Threat to Beijing’s Ambitions, By Kevin Rudd | FOREIGN AFFAIRS, August 6, 2021
- How are indigenous peoples made vulnerable to trafficking?, FREEDOMUNITED, August 8, 2021
- Bill Davis will be remembered as a moderate reformer who made change work, BY GEOFFREY STEVENS | The St. Catharines Standard, August 9, 2021
- Canada violating int’l law by selling arms to Saudis: Report, By Al Jazeera Staff, August 11, 2021
Click here for more on this topic
CHINA GENERAL
- Chinese court sentences Canadian businessman Michael Spavor to 11 years in prison, BY JAMES GRIFFITHS & STEVEN CHASE | THE GLOBE AND MAIL, August 10, 2021
- Historical Buddhist Temple Closed in Jiangxi, By ZHAO ZHANGYONG | BITTER WINTER, August 8, 2021
- The Canadian Olympic Committee should enjoy its moment in the sun before questions about the Beijing Games become too loud to ignore, BY CATHAL KELLY | THE GLOBE AND MAIL, August 8, 2021
- Time to confront the Chinese emperor with no clothes, By Benedict Rogers | UCAnews, August 5, 2021
- Reggie Littlejohn: We Need to Expose the CCP’s Brutality and Free Chinese People, By Jenny Chang | NTD, July 28, 2021
- It’s Not Just COVID: China’s Dubious Scientific Ethics, By WESLEY J. SMITH | NATIONAL REVIEW, July 29, 2021
- Spying on Falun Gong: The Man Who Sold Two Practitioners for $300 - The heinous system of delation was at work in Anhui province. by Yang Feng | BITTER WINTER, July 29, 2021
- Statement on 2022 Beijing Olympics Corporate Sponsorship Hearing, Campaign for Uyghurs, July 27, 2021
Click here for more on this topic
RUSSIA/PUTIN
 Rally on Parliament Hill about Putin. |
- The Week In Russia: Insecurity, Insincerity, And Distrust, By Steve Gutterman | RFE/RL, June 25, 2021
- The Week In Russia: Summit Signals And Election Extremes, By Steve Gutterman | RFE/RL, June 11, 2021
- ‘My Conscience Is Clean. And Yet They Came for Me.’By Anton Troianovski | THE NEW YORK TIMES, June 4, 2021
- Is Putin trying to monopolise the victory over Nazi Germany? By Mansur Mirovalev | ALJAZEERA, June 1, 2021
- Russian hackers target aid groups in new cyber-attack, says Microsoft, BBC NEWS, May 28, 2021
- How Hacking Became a Professional Service in Russia, By Joshua Yaffa | NEW YORKER, May 23, 2021
- RUSSIA: Widened ban on "extremists" exercising religious freedom, FORUM18, NORWAY, May 17, 2021
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WORLD EVENTS / ECONOMY
- Gleanings II - 891, by Nick Rost van Tonningen, July 29, 2021
- Gleanings II - 889, by Nick Rost van Tonningen, July 15, 2021
- CPA Daily Dose, July 2, 2021
- Interest Cost Risks to Government Budgets, FRASER INSTITUTE, June 29, 2021
- Gleanings II - 886, by Nick Rost van Tonningen, June 24, 2021
- Climate crisis to shrink G7 economies twice as much as Covid-19, says research, by Fiona Harvey | THE GUARDIAN, June 7, 2021
- Gleanings II - 883, by Nick Rost van Tonningen, May 27, 2021
- Support Canadian Energy newsletter, May 14, 2021
- Gleanings II - 879, by Nick Rost van Tonningen, April 8, 2021
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 Shirin Ebadi, Iran's Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights lawyer. Photographer: Michal Fludra/NurPhoto, via Getty Images |
- IRAN’S NEW PRESIDENT LAST PERSON MIDDLE EAST NEEDS TODAY, Message of Hon. David Kilgour, co-chair of NGO Canadian Friends of a Democratic Iran, to a rally near Parliament Hill, Ottawa. 3 August 2021
- IRAN’S NEW PRESIDENT MUST NOT COME TO SCOTLAND, By Struan Stevenson | THE HERALD SCOTLAND, July 8, 2021
- Iran's new president will bring more instability to Middle East, By David Kilgour | TORONTO SUN, July 5, 2021
- Massive Boycott in Iran against Regime, IRAN WEEKLY ROUNDUP, June 22, 2021
- The ruling of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice calls the downing of Flight PS752 an intentional act of terrorism, May 22, 2021
- EU sanctions elite Iran commander, seven others over 2019 protests, By Robin Emmott | REUTERS, APRIL 12, 2021
- URGENT ACTION: HELP #FREENASRIN, Amnesty International, December 16, 2020
- Regime Diplomat Over Plot to Bomb Resistance's 2018 Paris Summit, US Representative Office of National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), November 30, 2020
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TURKEY
- Turkey Starts New Sham Trial of Political Prisoner Osman Kavala, The Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED), 18 December 2020
- TURKEY AND THE RULE OF LAW, Hon. David Kilgour, J.D., International Freedom Convention 2020, Ottawa, 9 December 2020
- Turkey Is Moving Toward A Neo-Ottoman Regime With Calls To Convert Hagia Sophia, By Paul Marshall | Religion Unplugged, June 25, 2020
- Conference on Turkey, Dec 4, 2019 in Washington, Middle East Institute (MEI) and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES)
- In Meeting Erdogan, Trump Courts Another Tyrant, By The Editorial Board | The New York Times, November 13, 2019
- Behind Trump’s Dealings With Turkey: Sons-in-Law Married to Power, By David D. Kirkpatrick and Eric Lipton | The New York Times, November 12, 2019
- THE GREAT KURDISH BETRAYAL, By Struan Stevenson, October 18, 2019
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VIETNAM
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| (L) Vietnamese blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, "Mother Mushroom", was released. (R) She had participated in the Right to Know campaign before imprisonment. Mother Mushroom was released and her family including her children and her mother all were welcome to Germany. |
 On July 7, 2018, 33 Vietnamese-Canadian community organizations from Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and other centres across Canada gatherd in Parliament Hill, Ottawa, to demonstrate against the Internet Security Law and the Special Economic Zones Bill in Vietnam |
- Freedom of Religion or Belief News: SPECIAL VIETNAM: The collmErci ision of religion and the Vietnamese State/About the persecution of Buddhists in Vietnam, HRWF, May 11, 2021
- Torture of Political Prisoners Continues in Vietnam, By Kaylee Uland | Asia Sentinel, November 8, 2020
- WHAT SHOULD THE PEOPLE OF VN DO FOLLOWING THE EVENT OF DONG TAM ON JANUARY 9, 2020? (Editorial)
- Dr. Long Ba Nguyen’s Opening Speech at the Ceremony to Announce the Results of the Charter 2000 Movement’s 2019 Contest & Celebrate the 19th Anniversary of Charter 2000 (November 16, 2019, Dim Sum King Seafood Restaurant - Toronto)
- Hon. DAVID KILGOUR, J.D.: HONG KONG NEARS AN ABYSS(Eng. & Vietnamese)
- South China Sea, Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration and '9-dash demarcation', Notes for Hon. David Kilgour, J.D., At Embassy of People's Republic of China, Ottawa, August 25, 2019
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MEMORIAL
 Ian Gardiner Waddell Very sorry about Ian's passing. We were both elected to Parliament in 1979. |
 Dr. Norman Lyle Epstein |
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- Stamp honours public service contributions of Rt. Hon. John Turner, Canada Post Magazine, June 7, 2021
- David Russell TURNER - Obituary
- Ex-PM John Turner eulogized as exemplary politician; COVID limits number of guests
- John TURNER (1929 - 2020) - Obituary
- John Turner, Briefly Its Leader but Long a Force in Canada, Dies at 91
- KILGOUR: John Turner, an appreciation
- Rt. Hon. John Turner passes at 91
- Reflections on John Napier Turner
- John Turner's message frm his 90th birthday
Human rights lawyer David Matas continues to fight for the dispossessed
Winnipeg-based Matas has long championed for refugees and those who face human rights abuses
Matas is among the many lawyers still working today who appeared in the very first edition of Lexpert's Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory, which is now celebrating its first quarter-century with a 25th-anniversary edition.
In many ways, human rights, refugee, and immigration issues have not changed much since the 1990s when he first appeared in the directory, Matas says. But what is noticeable is the “huge increase in the global refugee population.”
He says there are an estimated 84 million refugees, compared to what would have been around 25 million back in the 1990s. The location of refugee “hotspots” has also changed. For example, parts of Europe are now homing many refugees who risked their lives crossing the Mediterranean.
The population of refugees has more than tripled, at a time when the global population grew by 40 per cent, “so I guess you could say that globally, things have got a lot of worse.” That is why countries such as Canada should continue, and even increase efforts, to provide a haven for refugees and improve lives, similar to how coming to Canada more than a century ago helped the Matas family.
The grandparents of Winnipeg-based Matas, Simon and Anna Matas, came from a part of Ukraine, near Odessa, that had suffered “massive spasms of anti-Semitic violence and pogroms,” as Matas describes in a family history he wrote for a family reunion a few years back.
This oppression included a pogrom in 1881, the year of Simon’s birth, and 1905, the year Simon and Anna, separately, left Russia. (Simon lost a sister in one of these pogroms when she was an infant. Anna lost a sister due to starvation, something that Jews in Russia found difficult to avoid given internal travel restrictions.)
After leaving Russia, the two met in England and eventually made their way to Winnipeg, following Simon Matas’ brother Matthew, who had arrived there in 1905. Anna and Simon married in 1909, built their own grocery store business by 1911, and went on to have six children.
Matas says in the family biography that “Simon and Anna were lucky to have got out of Russian and come to Canada when they did. If they had met, married and had children in Russia/Ukraine, their children would not have made it here [Canada].” He notes that after World War 1, Canadian immigration became “restrictive and anti Semitic.”
So, with such a family legacy, it’s easy to see why grandson Matas would be such a passionate advocate of campaigns to stop human rights abuses around the world. He has been involved in numerous national and international human rights groups and was named to the Order of Canada in 2008 for his contributions to human rights legislation and immigration and refugee law.
In 2010, Mr. Matas and former Edmonton MP David Kilgour were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for four years of investigative work into allegations that Falun Gong followers in China were being killed for their organs. They examined transplant programs of hundreds of hospitals in China, drawing on media reports, official propaganda, medical journals, hospital websites, and many deleted websites found in archives.
In addition to their publication of two reports, Kilgour and Matas co-authored Bloody Harvest: The killing of Falun Gong for their organs. The book details evidence that tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners had been killed by the Chinese regime in the process of extracting their organs for transplant surgeries.
More recently. In January, Matas was awarded the first-ever Global Humanitarian Leader of the Year award by the human rights group Canadians in Support of Refugees in Dire Need (CSRDN). The award recognizes outstanding individuals, organizations and programs that “uphold the principles of peace, justice and mercy, irrespective of race, colour or religion.”
Matas has also been a long-time senior legal counsel for B’nai Brith Canada. Recently, the organization has launched a new law society, named in his honour. It will operate as a subcommittee of B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights, with news to come of scheduled activities and ways that legal professionals can get involved.
At the age of 77, Matas continues his passionate lobbying and has repeatedly urged Canada to recognize as an act of genocide the plight of millions of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims detained in camps in China. These camps are described as the largest mass detention of a minority community since the Holocaust. Mr. Matas has repeatedly urged Canada to recognize the crisis as an act of genocide.
Matas points to one area of Canadian refugee policy where there have been significant changes in the private sponsorship program, whereby Canadians could assist in bringing refugees into Canada and be responsible for their integration. That program, which began in 1979, has seen increasing restrictions, where sponsorship numbers are capped. As well, the refugees have to fall within categories designated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, “which can sometimes be hard to get.”
“So I would call the sponsorship system a bit more constrained,” he says. “It used to be that almost anyone who wanted to sponsor a refugee could, provided the financial requirements were met. Now it is more difficult.”
On a more positive note, Matas points out the increasing digitization of documents and email have made it much easier to process refugee claims more quickly than regular mail or couriering of hard copies of documents.
However, even that isn’t foolproof, as it isn’t “as sophisticated as it could be,” in terms of ensuring documents are received, the requirement for a confirmation of receipt and the use of embedded links.
Related stories
https://openparliament.ca/committees/international-human-rights/39-1/5/xue-sheng-1/only/
Ms. Xue Sheng (Vice-President, Federation for a Democratic China) at the Subcommittee on International Human Rights
On November 21st, 2006. See this statement in context.
November 21st, 2006 / 11:15 a.m.
Xue ShengVice-President, Federation for a Democratic China
Ladies and gentlemen, honourable members of Parliament, first of all, I would like to thank the subcommittee for inviting me here.
My name is Sheng Xue, and I am vice-president of the Federation for a Democratic China, which was established by those who fled China after the Tiananmen Square massacre and other pro-democracy dissidents outside China. It is headquartered in Germany now, with more than 20 branches across the world, including Canada. Some of our members, including those from the Toronto area, are at the moment joining the rally on Parliament Hill to give our support to Prime Minister Harper for his courageous efforts regarding human rights in China.
The official bilateral Sino-Canada human rights dialogue has been going on for nearly ten years. Throughout this period the Chinese government has learned to be more cunning in its response to the international community's concerns and the criticism about its human rights record. They are at the moment hosting a large-scale Human Rights in China exhibition. This so-called “let the whole world witness the new development of China's human rights cause” is in fact a sham.
What is really going on? I am going to describe a few cases that are related to me directly. In the spring of 2004, in preparation for the memorial service for the 15th anniversary of the June 4 massacre, I e-mailed some pro-democracy friends around the world asking whether we should use the opportunity to try to visit China, since we had been barred from visiting China for 15 years. Soon after my e-mail, the newspaper office in Shanxi province, where the writer Shi Tao was working, issued a notice from China's central government that stated that pro-democracy elements of foreign countries should be strictly prevented from entering China during the 15th anniversary of the June 4 movement. After learning this, Shi Tao e-mailed the information to a friend in New York through Yahoo. Shi Tao was then arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of leaking state secrets. One e-mail message landed him ten years in prison. This case makes me very sad, because I was the one who initiated the discussion of entering China. This is a picture of Shi Tao. He married just one year before he was arrested. His wife was forced to divorce him.
Another case is about Zhang Lin. He graduated from Tsinghua University, China's most prestigious university in the field of science and technology. Because of his pro-democracy activities, Zhang Lin was given a prison sentence for three years followed by two years in a forced labour camp. He came to the United States in 1997, but in 1998 he decided to return to China to continue implementing his vision. Because of his dream for a better China, he was sentenced to three years again of re-education through labour right after he entered China.
Last February, I sent him an e-mail invitation to join the memorial service committee for Zhao Ziyang, the former general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party who was ousted and put in house arrest for fifteen years for sympathizing with the June 4 student movement. Zhang Lin readily accepted. He was then stopped by police on the way to the home of Zhao Ziyang in Beijing to offer condolences. He was arrested at the train station on his way home. He has totally lost his freedom. On July 28, 2005, last year, he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, a jail term even longer than before, on charges of inciting subversion of state power.
This was Zhang Lin with his wife and two-year-old daughter.
Mr. Jason Kenney had an experience when he was in Beijing where he was stopped by plainclothes police.
Finally I'd like to mention Yang Tianshui. He was a freelance writer who had already served a ten-year prison sentence between 1990 and 2000 for counter-revolutionary crimes. As a dissident in cyber space, he was sentenced in May 2006 to twelve years in prison for subversion of state power. The trial was rushed through in three hours. So he got an even longer sentence for the same reason.
Among the thirteen items of the so-called proof of guilt, two of them are related to me. First, a 500-euro donation for his lawyer's fee that I collected for him was labelled by the court as a fund to subvert the government. Second, my invitation to him to join the memorial service for Zhao Ziyang was defined as an anti-government crime.
Reports by Reporters Without Borders have shown that each and every year the Chinese regime has arrested and jailed more journalists and writers than any other country in the world. Hardly anyone who dares to advocate democracy or establish an organization based on this work can escape the fate of persecution.
In conclusion, I believe that in the past ten years there has been no progress in the improvement of human rights in China. The official bilateral human rights dialogue between China and Canada has not been helpful. Therefore, we call upon the Canadian government to suspend the closed-door human rights dialogue with the Chinese government and replace it with a more effective approach.
Second, if talks must continue, the Canadian government should invite non-governmental organizations, such as the Federation for a Democratic China, Canada, to participate.
Third, we call upon the Canadian government to develop a structure that will help organize and finance the human rights dialogue between non-governmental organizations in Canada and China.
Thank you very much.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/justin-trudeau-s-foolish-china-remarks-spark-anger-1.2421351
Justin Trudeau's 'foolish' China remarks spark anger
'It seems to be that he's not well-informed,' Asian-Canadian says of Liberal leader
Members of the Asian-Canadian community are demanding an apology from Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, following his comments on Thursday expressing admiration for China's "basic dictatorship."
A round table of people from China, Taiwan, Tibet and Korea — all of whom say they suffered at the hands of China's dictatorship — said they were insulted by Trudeau's remarks, made on Thursday at a women's event.
The Liberal leader was asked which nation he admired most. He responded: "There's a level of admiration I actually have for China. Their basic dictatorship is actually allowing them to turn their economy around on a dime."
That statement was upsetting for people who say they were wrongly imprisoned or tortured by the Chinese government for speaking out for democracy.
"Can I use the word 'foolish'"? said one member of the Federation for a Democratic China, characterizing Trudeau's words. The political group advocates for the democratization of China.
'A bit silly'
"It seems to be that he's not well-informed," another member of the round table said of Trudeau.
Federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair also reacted with surprise to the Liberal leader's words, calling it "a bit silly" to laud China rather than to praise democratic values.
At a press conference on Saturday in Quebec, Trudeau said his comment was a reflection on a growing economy.
Canadian members of the Federation for a Democratic China say that along with an apology from the Liberal leader, they also want an opportunity to meet face-to-face so he can listen to some of their personal stories of persecution at the hands of the Chinese government.
With files from the CBC's Ivy Cuervo
http://eng.the-liberty.com/2017/6940/
The Fight for Democracy in China Lives on:An Interview With SHENG Xue
SHENG Xue, the subject of The Liberty’s evocative interview, grew up in Beijing but moved to Canada after the protest of Tiananmen Democratic movement and the June 4th Massacre in 1989. An activist and Vice President of the Federation for a Democratic China and member of PEN Canada, she is also a member of the Writers in Exile Committee. At great risk to herself and her family, and exiled from her homeland, SHENG Xue fights the unrelenting struggle for the end of CCP rule and the suffering of the Chinese people. In the face of daily threats to her life and safety, she continues her quest for the democratization of China. Her awards are numerous; she is a published author, poet, actress and investigative journalist, but most importantly a key leader in the fight for human rights and critic of Chinese abuse. We are honored to share her thoughts with our Liberty readers.
SHENG Xue / SHENG Xue, a poet, writer, journalist, magazine columnist, a political commentator on radio and television, and an advocate for democracy and human rights in China. She was the President (from 2012 to 2017) of the Federation for a Democratic China, an international organization for the promotion of democracy in China, Chairperson of June 4th Massacre Investigation and Member of the Head Committee of Forum for Democratization of China and Asia (FDCA). SHENG Xue is the vice-president of Writers for Peace Committee of PEN International. SHENG Xue was chosen as one of Canada’s Stories for the 150′s birthday of Canada by MACLEAN’S:
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/sheng-xue-on-life-after-tiananmen-square/
SHENG Xue is also the Co-Founder for China Rights Network, a coalition that unites communities that have suffered under China’s rule. She is a long-term supporter for the cause of human rights and freedom for Tibetan, Uyghur, Mongolian and other ethnic groups.
In 2000, SHENG Xue won The Canadian Association for Journalists Award for Investigative Journalism, and the National Magazine Award – the first Chinese Canadian so honored. In 2005, she won The National Ethnic Press and Media Council Award for Journalism. In 2012, she received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
In recent years SHENG Xue was a Writer-in-Residence at Carlton and McMaster universities, and the Writer in Exile of the city of Edmonton and University of Alberta.SHENG Xue grew up in Beijing and moved to Canada soon after the Tiananmen Square (June 4th) Massacre in Beijing in 1989. She has been banned from visiting her home country ever since because of her writing, public speaking, and human rights and political activities.
Interviewer: Hanako Cho
THE FEDERATION FOR A DEMOCRATIC CHINA
Interviewer: You have been President of the Federation for a Democratic China. Can you tell us about that and how it began?
Sheng: The Federation for a Democratic China was established right after the Tiananmen Square massacre in September of 1989. It is almost the largest opposing organization against the Chinese communists worldwide. And it has many branches in the most important countries, including Japan and Canada, USA, France, Australia, UK, Germany, Taiwan and Hong Kong. I was elected as the President of the Federation for a Democratic China in October 2012 In Budapest.
I had stepped down this March when we had our 13th Congress in USA. Mr. Chin Jin of Australia was elected as the new President of FDC.
CHANGES SINCE THE 1990′S
For how many members do we have? The things have changed a lot after the early 90′s. For example, Federation for a Democratic China (FDC) had started its membership in Australia in 1989. It had thousands of people. but after some years when people there had already received their citizenship from Australia, they also received a lot of pressure from the Chinese government, many of them became inactive. For example, people wanted to go back to China to visit their parents and to visit their family members, and when their parents were sick or passing away they needed to go back to say their last goodbyes, or if they need to do some kind of business or if they want their children to visit their home country etc. So many people have left. This is the very critical situation for our organization.
MAINTAINING THE FDC
Interviewer: So how do you try to maintain the organization?
Sheng: Luckily, Of course there will be some members who are dedicated and stay strong to keep the organization active, we do have our annual conference, seminars and we have a lot of demonstrations in the street and we have our website, and we do have a lot of lobbies to our government. Like in Canada, I do a lot of lobbying to my government. Also we focus closely on Chinese society and study the issues and discuss our efforts. We have humanitarian help and support to political prisoners and victim’s families.
HOW TIANANMEN SQUARE CHANGED YOUR LIFE’S FOCUS
Interviewer: That would require a great deal of activity. After the Tiananmen Square Massacre, you have been committed to this organization and movement since then. For you, what was the meaning of Tiananmen Square Massacre?
Sheng: I came to Canada on August 20th of 1989, two months after the massacre took place. And I participated in a demonstration in front of the Chinese Consulate in Toronto 20 days after I arrived in Toronto. I should say I have been very active since then until today. It’s been 28 years. the Chinese government denied my entry to go back to my hometown for 28 years. When I went back to China for the Moon ‘a Festival of 1996, I was arrested at the airport. they questioned me and threatened me, but I was very calm. I said to them, “I know what I have been doing. I’m taking full responsibility and don’t hurt my family”. However, after 24 hours’ interrogation on the following day, they deported me back to Canada. When they read the statement saying that I was an unwelcome foreigner, I was in tears. I thought if I were bone and grew up in a foreign country, why should I care about all of this? after that, there was no chance to return to China until today.
Interviewer: So, you haven’t seen your family since then?
Sheng: Yeah. My father passed away in Beijing 1992. My grandparents and my two uncles from my mother side passed away during this period. And then my mother joined me in Canada in 1997. My mother passed away here in Canada three years ago in 2014. Of course I haven’t had the chance to see my other relatives and my colleagues, my classmates, my friends, for 28 years.
Interviewer: That’s really tragic. What is the meaning of the Tiananmen Square massacre for you?
Sheng: The massacre made me sure about my life, and I involved in the overseas democracy movement right after I got here. I wish I could join in the action to overthrow the CCP regime. I have been asked so many times as a female – as I came to Canada to study, because I gave up all my lifestyle – I gave up my study; I gave up the chance to do business, to make money. I have been asked so many times, “Why did you leave your own life behind and use all your time, energy to fight for freedom and democracy for China?” The answer is very simple. The massacre was not the only reason for me to become involved in the democratic movement, but it strengthened my faith. And if I had not witnessed and been involved in the movement in China in 1989, I do 100% believe that I would still have the same life. When I have been asked, “Why”, the very simple answer is that I cannot just watch the Chinese people suffer so much and do nothing. And the ongoing tyranny is challenging my conscience and my aesthetics at every moment.
THE RESULTS OF CHINA’S BELIEF IN MATERIALISM
Interviewer: You mean that China believes in materialism, right?
Sheng: Yes, so much, crazily. And people are superstitious with political power and violence.
Interviewer: Xi Jinping is becoming like a king of China.
Sheng: Very evoking.
ONGOING ATTACKS ON SHENG XUE & HER FAMILY
Interviewer: So, I heard that you had unimaginable attacks against you after you left for Canada. How can that be? Could you please share with us how you could overcome these serious difficulties? And what is the source of the passion that makes you keep going?
Sheng: Actually, these kinds of attacks began shortly after I was becoming active with the overseas democracy movement. And it wasn’t very strong. But it never stops. But until about 10 years ago, there’s someone — I do think that the Chinese regime has a project on me – because some people, they are continually writing articles and sending out these kind of attack articles to emails, to Facebook, to Twitter and anywhere that they can. And since I was elected as President of FDC, the attacks were so crazy. There are about 700 attack articles on me now online.
Interviewer: Wow. 700?
Sheng: 700 and three books. And I don’t know how many kind of — those kinds of graphic photos. And very damaging, and include the attacking of my family members–
Interviewer: I see.
Sheng: –to my parents. Even after my parents have passed away, they made up ugly stories about my parents. And, also, they found email address of my brother, sister and my uncle. They put their email address in to the email groups. My uncle is 86 years old, and they send these ugly stories to them every day.
BETRAYAL BY FRIENDS
Interviewer: How?
Sheng: I should say that the CCP attacks on me almost exhausted all means.
Interviewer: So, do you know who they are? Do you know who are attacking you?
Sheng: Yes, I do know some of them.
HARRASSMENT BY FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT
The very hurting thing is that the CCP bought and conned my friends to betray me. And, also, they are making so many rumors and lies. And, also, they are using someone to sue me and making a claim for C$10 million.
Interviewer: Claiming for $10 million? That’s ridiculous.
Sheng: The Chinese Government is using someone in Canada and sued me claiming C$10 million.
THE PAIN OF CONSTANT HARRASSMENT
Interviewer: Why is it you’re being haunted by them?
Sheng: The CCP says that I am its hostile. I am a poet and writer, I have a lot of readers. I write and read to exposing the darkness of the regime. I analysis and write about the nature of the CCP is state terrorism.
I was participated the pro-democracy movement and witnessed the massacre in 1989. I used all chances to tell the truth. I am an award winning journalists. I do investigative journalism and focus on freedom and human rights issues in china. My books have been strictly banned in China. I am a current commentator for TV, radio and papers in Chinese. I talk about social issues and spread the universal concept. I expose the CCP’s economic growth lies. I boycott the Beijing Olympic Games.
And I have been doing humanity help since the early of 1990. I tried my best to help political prisoners and their families. And to help their kids to Canada and relief their worries.
I believe that all people should unite together to fight for their rights so I tried to establish anti-communist alliance and to be a bridge between different ethnic groups. I have a good relationship with Tibetans, Uighurs, Mongolian and Taiwanese communities and their leaders.
I organized over hundred events of demonstrations, seminars, conferences and etc.
I become an oversea Chinses democratic movement leader and social celebrity. And I do a lot of lobbying to Canadian politicians. Let the Canadian political figures recognize the brutality of the CCP and the infiltration and injury to Canada.
THE FIGHT FOR THE SUFFERING OF OTHERS OVERRIDES PERSONAL TORMENT
Interviewer: How did you survive this very difficult situation?
Sheng: I just cannot ignore the tragedy, the suffering of the Chinese people in China. Because I’m reading Chinese every day when I log onto a website, when I am reading the newspaper, when I read magazines, I could see that the tragedy, the disaster is there every day, every day. And it’s more and more. So, I cannot give myself a reason not to fight against the evil government. So, I said, “Okay. When the attacks are getting more and more, I told myself, “Okay. If I am not going to fall; they cannot make me then.” And, also, I’m very lucky because I have been living in Canada for so many years and my family support me without condition and I have a lot of friends and community to stay beside me.
I receive so much help, so much support, even from the Canadian government. When the Globe and Mail interviewed me about my situation and the reporter interviewed Jason Kenney– Jason Kenney is a Cabinet Minister and he was very, very supportive, he said that, “It is hugely important to have courageous and independent voices like Xue’s in the Chinese-Canadian community talking about human rights in China.”
I’m lucky because when I think about the people in China, when they try to fight the CCP they may been thrown to jail and their families are in a very, very unbelievably bad situation, so I’m lucky, right? So, I’m not living in China, so I don’t have this kind of direct danger for my life. And, also, I have my family, they are standing behind me. They support me so much. So, I’m okay [laughter].
REMEMBERING LIU XIAOBO
Interviewer: Do you feel safe now?
Sheng: Yes. As much as I can be. Actually no one is safe in China and they could reach out to me no matter where I am.
Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah. One of the purposes of this interview is to commemorate Liu Xiaobo. I heard that you knew him very well. Could you please share with us his memory?
Sheng: Because I and Liu Xiaobo were in the same PEN Center, the Independent Chinese PEN Center, so we talked via phone. And we never met in person. Yeah, we were talking via phone. And I feel that Liu Xiaobo is a very easygoing friend. And he has deep thoughts.
A BORN LEADER（sorry I changed my words about this. A very good friend strongly disagree with this. )
Interviewer: Deep thoughts?
Sheng: He was a very ideal person. He had much thinking on many things. He was a person who had a sense of humor. And yes, he was very fearless. He was not afraid of other people talking about him [laughter]. Yeah. And yes, and, also, he had passions, and he liked to help friends. People liked to be friends with him, and wanted to be around him, and wanted to listen to him, Wanted to talk to him.
THE CHINESE NEWS BLACKOUT ON XIAOBO’S PASSING & XIAOBO’S LEGACY
Interviewer: So right now, almost all the citizen, Chinese citizen, don’t even know the fact the Liu Xiaobo has passed away, because of the internet restriction. How do you see this situation?
Sheng: The situation is very, very sad. And you must know that after his death, that his body was burned right after and his ashes thrown into sea. And his wife is still disappeared, and nobody knows where she is. And also, people who commemorate him have been arrested in China. And, also a poet whose name is Lang Zi has been arrested. Yes, and because of the poet was editing Liu Xiaobo’s poetry book. So, the situation is very, very, very bad. But on the other side, what I see is that Liu Xiaobo gave his life for a new hope to China, and because of his death so many people awakened from their dream. XAnd especially, Liu Xiaobo was a very moderate person. He was very kind and very soft, and he said that, “I have no enemy”, right? But the Chinese government treated him as the biggest enemy to the regime. So, Liu Xiaobo’s death awakened so many people, so many Chinese people, and they won’t have any fantasy of the Chinese regime. So, this is what Liu Xiaobo gave his life for.
A SPEECH MESSAGE FROM XIAOBO
Interviewer: Is that a speech message of Liu Xiaobo?
Sheng: Yes. Thank you.
Interviewer: In the spiritual message, the spirit of Liu Xiaobo said that he didn’t intend to become a revolutionary leader. But he wanted to be a supporter of the weak. “By abandoning my life, and falling to the ground, there will be a new sprout,” he said. How do you feel his spirit of the revolution?
Sheng: I fully agree with these ideas of Liu Xiaobo. And my sorrows are the same.
THE NEED FOR A “COMMON-SENSE” REVOLUTION
Sheng: China needs many revolutions because China is almost completely corrupted by the CCP. China needs revolution in many areas.
Interviewer: In many areas such as?
Sheng: For example, including the common-sense revolution. I always say that China needed to have a revolution of common sense because most of Chinese people don’t have common sense.
Interviewer: And what do you mean by common sense?
Sheng: Common sense of life. Common sense of happiness. Common sense of love and hatred. Common sense of social beliefs. Everything. And, also, China needs to have a religious revolution. Their religion has been damaged so much by the Chinese government. And, also, China needs to have a moral revolution. Most Chinese people don’t know what morality means. Because of the communist, people has been brainwashed.
A REVOKUTION OF UNIVERSAL VALUES
Sheng: Also, I think that China need to have a revolution of universal values, because the Chinese people don’t have a chance to know what are universal values are. Of course, all the purpose of revolution is to end the CCP’s tyranny, so that Chinese people could return to a normal human life.
THE ROLE OF RELIGION AND CHINESE OPPRESSION
Interviewer: So, can I ask you more about the role of a religion in China?
Sheng: Sure.
Interviewer: Because the Chinese government seems to be strict. Eliminating religion in every aspect of Chinese citizens’ life, but people who are blaming Christianity are also adopting it, as the number itself is increasing. It’s appears almost 100 million people believe in Christianity. What do you think of this situation?
Sheng: The number of people who believe in Christianity are increasing, but simultaneously the CCP is oppressing these people. But in order to democratize China, I think that religion is the key to revert this condition. The number is increasing very, very fast. I know that because many of my friends are Christian, but not myself. And I have a very good friend who is a pastor and talks to churches around the world and he told me about this. And on the other hand, the Chinese government cracked down on Christians so harshly, and yeah, you probably know that they crack down on churches to arrest the people who are attending the underground churches. So, more and more people don’t believe in the communism. More and more people they are awakened after believing in the communists for so many years, and so people they need to have a new belief and of course, Christian or Buddhism are the major beliefs in China, and the Chinese government, they influence the Buddhism so deeply so much. And they have their party members be leaders in most of the temples and they want to do the same to churches. Of course, it’s very hard. When people do have real beliefs, it’s pretty hard to listen to the communist party anymore. So that’s why we see the crucial separation of the Christian’s, and this will be lasting because of the fighting between the communists and the people. So, I think it will be changed when the communists go down, like other power and other sources are rising up to collaborate with each other and are fighting back against the Chinese communist regime.
THE NEED FOR INTERNATIONAL HELP AND COMPASSION
Interviewer: The spirit of Liu Xiaobo also said that what the Chinese government is most afraid of is that the occurrences of feedback from the people saying that they mustn’t let Liu Xiaobo’s death go to waste. In order to encourage this movement to happen, what can we do?
Sheng: More and more people recognize the CCP for what it is, and no longer have the fantasy of the CCP. And China’s change must have help from the outside world. Because what information Chinese people have access to is very limited in China. You must know that China used huge, huge resources to establish the firewall. And so, Chinese people, they don’t have a source to learn the truth. And they don’t know what to do. And their lives have been controlled very tightly. And when you go into a store, a shop, to buy a knife, you need to give your real name. And that you need to give your personal ID. So, this kind of a lifestyle makes people very afraid and very — their actions have been limited. So, the help from the outside world is a so, so very important.
Interviewer: Because There are so many cameras and videos inside China?
THE DEPRIVATION OF CIVIL RIGHTS
Interviewer: Yes, people’s lives are monitored every day and without submitting ID they can’t even get a knife at a store?
Sheng: Right.
Interviewer: Wow. Okay.
Sheng: Yeah. You’d need to give your ID in case to buy a knife.
THE NEXT TEN YEARS: VISION AND GOALS
Interviewer: The spirit of Liu Xiaobo also said that we stand at the crossroad and that the next ten years will define the future. What kind of activities are you planning to initiate in the next 10 years?
Sheng: We need to use every means to let the Chinese people know the truth: letting them know the truth of their own survival; letting them know the truth of the lives of people of other countries of the world. When they are in Japan — you know that the Chinese people are so excited when they’re in Japan, right [laughter]?
Interviewer: Right. They’re buying so many things at the store.
Sheng: Yeah. Even though they are demonstrating against Japan in China, but when they are in Japan I think that most of them are very shocked and very impressed by the lifestyle of the Japanese. The happiness of the Japanese? The human rights that the Japanese can enjoy, and the dignity that the Japanese have that the Chinese people don’t. So, and again, the Chinese people know that the survival of mankind is for happiness, for peace, and for love, and to help each other. Not for suffering. Not being bullied and insulted by the power. And to make people free to face a normal civil political system which is, of course, is the democratic system.
And the population is huge in China. CCP are using people as their goods in warehouses. People have no human rights, no safety, no protection, no cost for the owner . And the more people realize this than to fight back, the more people will join the movement to overthrow the Chinese government in large, large number.
RELEARNING VALUES
Interviewer: The Chinese tourists only seem to be learning about how to buy a good thing, not learning values, such as free speech or freedom of faith or..
Sheng: I know, yes. This is very sad. This is very sad. Yeah. Not only in Japan, in most countries. In Canada, in the United States, in European countries, they only are shoppers.
Interviewer: Yeah. Shoppers .
Sheng: Yeah. Why is that? Because they know how dangerous if they brought back ideas and books and the newspapers or the magazines that they will be punished, right? So, what we see is that, they only buy goods. And especially buy luxurious goods from outside in order to feel that they have this kind of dignity. Of course, these cannot make them have dignity by buying goods. But take these times when the people are going out to experience the lifestyle of a democratic country. People enjoy human rights, happiness, and dignity, and they’re respected by the power of the government. And I think more and more people realize this, especially the younger generation. They are sensitive. They are learning. And especially, a lot of people are going to democratic countries to study there.
U.S. PRESSURE ON CHINA
Interviewer: Recently the U.S. State Department increased its pressure on China regarding human trafficking and nominated China as the worst of its kind. Maybe this is in response to the second sanction for North Korea, but what do you think of the State Department’s stance on China? There seems to be increasing pressure on China?
Sheng: Yes. The United States and Japan have been being too soft.
PROJECTING A STRONGER POSITION ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
Sheng: They have been being too soft on the Chinese regime. The U.S. government and Japan have responsibility for the, I should say, the strengthening of the Chinese Communist Party from 1989 to today. So, of course, I think that the United States and Japan should be more powerful and more tough on the CCP. Because the United States and Japan are the most influential democratic countries in the world and have the responsibility to do so. Also, the United States and Japan should have a responsibility to let their own people realize that a strong CCP will bring human disaster. Actually it already is.
THE ECONOMIC PULL OF CHINA AS A FACTOR IN INTERNATIONAL SOFTNESS TOWARD CHINESE ABUSES
Interviewer: Yes, I do agree, and it is shameful that our government is not strong enough to pressure China. I feel very sorry about that.
Sheng: I know the problem is because of the Chinese market. It was an empty market and it was a huge empty market. So, of course, a lot of countries, a lot of businesses, want to make money there. But they ignore the human abuse. They think that it was only abuse to Chinese citizens. But it’s not, because the Chinese government, what I call it, it is a state terrorist. I think you agree with me too.
CHINA AS A STATE TERRORIST IS A REAL Threat FOR THE WORLD.
Interviewer: State terrorist?
Sheng: I call the Chinese government the Chinese terrorism state, state terrorism.
Interviewer: State terrorism. I know, state terrorism. Because of state terrorism, you mean the CCP is creating the empty market?
Sheng: the state terrorism is the power system of China. and it exports the violence, the terrorism to international communities. Also, this is not the first time. If we look back to the ’50s, to the ’60s, they exported terrorism to many countries, right? And then the terrorism of communism once again threatens the world and Japan and Taiwan are the most endangered countries.
Interviewer: Yes, I think the CCP is planning to annex Taiwan by 2020. And you also proposed that we, the Japanese people, should establish a Taiwan Relations Act when you give a speech in July in Japan. Could you elaborate more on this?
Sheng: Oh, yes. Japan is a great country and a mature democratic country in Asia and has many obstacles. The biggest obstacle and threat to Japan’s development is the CCP. Japan needs an alliance with Taiwan. Taiwan needs support. So, Taiwan is Japan’s best ally in Asia. And Japan and Taiwan have the responsibility to foster democracy in Asia. So, if Japan tries to pass the law of the Taiwan Relations Act, this would be very beneficial to both Japan and Taiwan because it can hurt the CCP deeply and createtense relations with Taiwan.
Interviewer: Right. Maybe we need to take this Taiwan Relations Act seriously.
Sheng: Yes.
ENACTING THE WILL OF LIU XIAOBO
Interviewer: In what way do you succeed Liu Xiaobo’s will ?
Sheng: As I mentioned that Xiaobo died, but Xiaobo is alive. Xiaobo makes people realize the meaning of being alive so Xiaobo is living in people’s heart forever, even though the Chinese government burnt him and threw out his ashes. It’s very interesting. When we were in Japan, we had a conference at a city by the sea so we had commemoration of Xiaobo at the shore of the sea so I realized that when the Chinese government was doing this, it was so, so, stupid because everywhere, when people are by the sea, they will think about him and they will have their own way to commemorate him, right? So, Xiaobo is alive. He’s alive in people’s heart. He’s alive with people’s spirit and he’s alive with people’s hope.
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Message from the Chief Editor
At the present time, the world is seeking for true freedom, true liberty.
In the year of 2011, a large number of people have raised a revolutionary wave in the Arab world called as Arab Spring. And in China, a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China, the remarks of some brave people, who stand up for freedom of speech and freedom of religion, are gaining prominence around the world. It seems these actions to win freedom and to liberate people from suppression will continue to spread all over the world even after the year of 2011.
On the other hand, rather than obtaining liberty, some people in the western world are demanding for equality and well-controlled society since they have been confronting serious economic difficulties. However, the history of 20th century has proved that Marxism income distribution and controlled economy produce nothing but poverty. Not favoring social equality, the fact the western world needs to realize is the thoughts of liberty based on deep wisdom and mercy.
The reason why the Middle East, Western countries, and China are undergoing these drastic changes is because their thoughts based on their fundamental beliefs (such as Islam, Christianity, and Materialism) restrict people of today as a result. Under such circumstances, people’s minds are suppressed and they may feel unfortunate. However, we believe the present age is seeking for a new world spirit (Weltgeist), and around the world, people are trying to attain the teachings of “God of Liberty” in order to discard old values and create a new future.
The Liberty is the media that pursues the true liberty for wishing to bring happiness to every individual, peace and prosperity on every society and nation, and a utopia on earth. We believe the true liberty comes from inside of peoples’ minds knowing unchanging religious truth. Jesus Christ said “The Truth shall make you free” and Buddha said “All of us can be free from sufferings and can obtain spiritual freedom by attaining wisdom.” And at the present time, Master Ryuho Okawa of Happy Science teaches universal religious truth.
From Japan, one of the most peaceful and prosperous countries in the world, The Liberty provides articles on news commentaries and opinions in many categories based on the teachings of Master Ryuho Okawa. By the power of universal truth, we believe there will be life filled with love and happiness, success in business, prosperity in every nation and society, unification of religions and science, and peace brought by harmonization of different religious beliefs. We hope this site will be helpful to you attaining your liberty and happiness.
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