On Tuesday April 12, 2005, The Epoch Times hosted the first English language public forum at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Canada to discuss the true nature of the Chinese Communist Party.

The forum began with a 30-minute video of the first five sections of the “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party,” followed by speeches.

The first speaker read a presentation prepared by Dr. Frank Tian Xie, Vice-President of The Epoch Times, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the LeBow College of Business, Drexel University, and President of the Greater Philadelphia Asian Culture Center. Dr. Xie’s speech, entitled ‘External Injection and Internal Bleeding of the Chinese Economy,’ described how China’s economy is propped up by foreign investment and the use of free labor of prisoners to manufacture goods as inexpensively as possible- the blood injected. However, the cost to the environment is enormous, and China’s fiscal statistics are unreliable- the blood lost. Dr. Xie concluded that China’s economy could collapse within five to ten years, and that the gradual dissolution of the Communist Party in China may be the ultimate salvation of the country.

Senator Consiglio DiNino began by “applauding the initiative of The Epoch Times” for exposing the oppressiveness of the Chinese regime. He called the Nine Commentaries a “refreshing expose of the Chinese government’s oppressive regime.” He went on to describe the rush of many multinational companies and western regimes that want to do business with China as “economic prostitution” because “the investment of large sums of money in order to make more money occurs at the expense of values, justice, rights, and peace,” and that economic returns have yet to materialize. Senator DiNino said that democracies also have revolutions in which the power comes from the vote. Voting in democratic countries can bring about societal change. He concluded his talk by saying, “I am here to support you now, I was here yesterday, and I will be here to support you tomorrow.”

Human rights lawyer David Matas, talked about how the ideology of China’s government has shifted over time, but the one constant has been its human rights violations. He asked, “How do they verbally justify their actions” and what is the ideology that leads to the human rights violations. To answer the question, Mr. Matas read from one of his books, No More, the Battle Against Human Rights Violations. He described how communism prescribes certain duties and obligations to the state for its citizens, to the point that “failure to comply with any duty justifies the loss of all rights.” The result is a perversion of human rights.

Dr. Qing Xu, medical doctor and researcher, talked about the cover-up of the SARS epidemic in China, and the consequences for the courageous physician and the journalists who exposed the cover-up at the expense of their own freedom. He also described the heroism of Jasper Baker, a journalist who spent 20 years in Beijing and wrote a book about the 30 million people who starved to death between 1958 and 1962.

Member of Parliament Rob Anders started by talking about the video that was shown: “…by watching the film you are learning the truth and you can tell others about what you have learned.” He gave a very moving description of what happened to his family during the Bolshevik Revolution and the way his great grandparents were slaughtered just because they owned land. He believes that Canada should only set up trade agreements with countries that honor and respect human freedoms.

Dr. Brian Given of the Canada Tibet Committee described what he learned about communism through working with Tibetans and during the time he spent in India and Taiwan. “Tibet is an occupied country—China would like to occupy Taiwan,” he said. He is writing a book about Tibetan Canadians.

A representative of the Canadian Falun Dafa Association, Grace (Gongyu) Wollensak, presented a summary of the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Her presentation included before and after pictures and case studies of people who had been tortured to death for refusing to give up the practice of Falun Gong. She indicated that the evil nature of the CCP has not changed at all.

Seventy-two-year-old Ms. Yunfang Lu courageously shared a very painful part of her life when she and her husband were severely persecuted in China in the late 1950s. They were repeatedly beaten and publicly humiliated. Her husband eventually died when he was stabbed with a bayonet during one of the public harangues. She and her four children were then forced out of their home. It was very difficult to listen to her story as she frequently broke down crying. She also described how two of her husband’s brothers-in-law were tortured to death: one died in a labor camp he was sent to for criticizing the CCP and the other was killed because he was an intellectual who wrote essays and poems. Losing her family members in this way highlighted the cruel nature of the CCP.

The audience was invited to ask panel members questions or share their personal experiences. Several people talked about their experiences while living in other communist controlled countries such as Poland and Romania.

One young man who works at a school described how sad he was to see some children embracing the communist ideology because they naively believe the Communist Party’s false promise of creating a better society.

One gentleman refuted the idea that we can work with China. He explained that if we support the current system of cheap labor provided by prisoners, and other oppressions, it will result in other generations suffering the same fate.

An older Chinese lady from the audience would not allow her picture to be taken and wore a large hat so that she could not be easily identified. She said that she still feels fearful when openly talking about the CCP even though she has lived in Canada for 30 years. When she was quite young her family moved to Canada but she refused to leave her beloved country. At the age of 17, she was denounced as a capitalist and traitor because she received a letter from an uncle who lived in the USA. Eventually, she fled China with just the clothes on her back.

Panel members and the audience continued to share their experiences after the forum had formally ended.