More than 1,000 Falun Gong practitioners and their supporters held a rally and parade in Toronto on Sept. 19 to call for an end to the Chinese regime’s persecution of the spiritual practice in China and transnational repression on Canadian soil.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s 27-year persecution of Falun Gong is state-led genocide and a crime against humanity,” Falun Gong practitioner Pan Xuefeng said at the rally, held at Queen’s Park in downtown Toronto.
Pan cited the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) practice of harvesting organs from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience while they’re still alive in order to sell their organs for profit, saying the regime has “crossed the last lines of human civility and morality.”
Falun Gong practitioners hold a parade in downtown Toronto to call for an end to the Chinese regime's persecution and transnational repression, on Sept. 19, 2026. (Alex Gurevich)
Falun Gong practitioners and supporters hold a rally at Queen's Park to call for an end to the Chinese regime's persecution and transnational repression, in Toronto on Sept. 19, 2026. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times)
Matthew Leeder, an emcee at the event, explained that Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a peaceful spiritual meditation practice rooted in the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, and that it had an “overwhelmingly positive impact on Chinese society in the 1990s.” However, the CCP began persecuting the practice in 1999, he noted.
“Unfortunately, in 1999, China’s former head of state Jiang Zemin launched a brutal persecution against Falun Gong, and this repression of Falun Gong has extended to the rest of the world, including on Canadian soil,” Leeder said.
“There have been many well-documented incidents of Chinese state politicians trying to influence Canadian politicians to not support Falun Gong.”
Falun Gong practitioners perform the spiritual discipline's meditative exercises at an event at Queen's Park, to call for an end to the Chinese regime's persecution and transnational repression, in Toronto on Sept. 19, 2026. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times)
Falun Gong practitioners perform the spiritual discipline's meditative exercises at an event at Queen's Park, to call for an end to the Chinese regime's persecution and transnational repression, in Toronto on Sept. 19, 2026. (Alex Gurevich)
Some of the examples of the CCP’s interference actions in Canada include its attempts to disrupt performances by New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts, Leeder said. The classical Chinese dance company, whose artists practice Falun Gong, was founded to revive traditional Chinese culture. Several of its performances have been disrupted by bomb threats that police confirmed to be hoaxes.
This year, bomb threats resulted in performances at Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts being cancelled in late March and early April. Police traced the email from which the threats were sent to a phone number based in China. The same email address was used to send bomb threats to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver.
The performances in Toronto were rescheduled and held about a month later at the Four Seasons Centre, Leeder said.
“These cancellations clearly have affected thousands of Canadian patrons, and all done by a foreign regime,” he said.
The Tian Guo Marching Band takes part in a parade in downtown Toronto to call for an end to the Chinese regime's persecution and transnational repression, on Sept. 19, 2026. (Alex Gurevich)
Falun Gong practitioner and event host Matthew Leeder speaks at a rally at Queen's Park to call for an end to the Chinese regime's persecution and transnational repression, in Toronto on Sept. 19, 2026. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times)
“A foreign regime is trying to restrict the freedom of expression of Canadian citizens on Canadian soil, which is our constitutional right, whether it be freedom of expression of belief or freedom of artistic expression,” he said, adding that all of society should be standing up to the CCP’s transnational repression.
Fellow practitioner Lisa Zhang noted that as practitioners hand out pamphlets to raise awareness about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China, they have been attacked by some people speaking Chinese, but said their efforts to call for an end to the persecution will not stop.
“As long as the CCP’s persecution of Dafa continues, we will not stop explaining the facts, until the day this evil disintegrates,” she said.
Peter Hou, deputy secretary general of the Federation for a Democratic China, Canadian branch, said the CCP’s persecution campaign is no longer limited to within China’s borders.
Falun Gong practitioners hold a parade in downtown Toronto to call for an end to the Chinese regime's persecution and transnational repression, on Sept. 19, 2026. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times)
Falun Gong practitioners hold a parade in downtown Toronto to call for an end to the Chinese regime's persecution and transnational repression, on Sept. 19, 2026. (Alex Gurevich)
Falun Gong practitioners hold a parade in downtown Toronto to call for an end to the Chinese regime's persecution and transnational repression, on Sept. 19, 2026. (Alex Gurevich)
“We must also remain vigilant against another threat: transnational repression. No foreign government should extend surveillance, intimidation, harassment, or political pressure onto Canadian soil,” Hou said.
“Canada is a land of freedom and the rule of law; it should not become a place where any government extends threats, fear, and repression.”
Josee Zhou, a member of the China Democratic Party Canada Committee, said she joined the event to show her support “for all those who have been hurt or oppressed simply because they follow their conscience and stand up for their basic human rights.”
“Stop transnational repression. Stop the persecution of Falun Gong,” she said.
Isaac Teo contributed to this report.
