On February 5, 2001, during a press conference held at Parliament Hill, Ottawa, the legal representative of the Falun Gong Association of Canada, Mr. Rocco Galati, presented evidence of the Chinese Consulates interfering, threatening, and intimidating Falun Gong practitioners in Canada, as well as attempting to incite the public's hatred against Falun Gong practitioners. Mr. Galati also appealed to all relevant departments to take immediate and necessary action. The following is a letter Mr. Galati sent to several departments of the Federal government.

February 3rd, 2001

The Right Hon. Anne McLellan
Minister of Justice & Attorney General of Canada
3rd Floor, Justice Building
239 Wellington Street Ottawa,
Ottawa, Ontario K1Z 0H8
Fax: (613) 990-7255
The Hon. John Manley, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Lester B. Pearson Building
A-10 125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
Fax: (613) 996-3443
The Right Honourable Robert Flaherty
Attorney General of Ontario
Ministry of the Attorney
720 Bay Street, 11th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5G 2K1
Fax: (416) 326-4016
The Hon. Pierre S. Pettigrew, P.C. M.P.
Minister for International Trade
General Lester B. Pearson Building
5th Floor, Tower B
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
Fax: (613) 996-8924

Dear Sir/ Madam:

I represent the Falun Gong Association of Canada and its practitioners in Canada.

This letter is to:register my clients' complete distress at events and instances of direct interference, threat, intimidation, and incitement of hatred against Falun Gong practitioners here in Canada by foreign consular officers of the people's Republic of China against Canadian citizens on Canadian soil, and request immediate action be taken by the Foreign Affairs Ministry;

to request and require an investigation and criminal charges pursuant to ss.319 and s.7(3.71) of the Criminal Code of Canada, as well as ss.7, 2(4), 3, 4, and Schedule II, Chapter II, Section II, Articles 40 43, being the "Vienna Convention on Consular Relations", of the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act , S.C. 1991, c.41, F-29.4, assented to December 5th, 1991 by the Parliament of Canada;

to provide you sufficient prima facie evidence to investigate and prosecute pursuant to 2. above;

to request and require immediate action to expel the Chinese consul-general and staff, for Toronto, who has publicly rallied and incited hatred against Canadian citizens on Canadian soil based on "religion" and "race" as defined under s.319 of the Criminal Code as well as counseling and aiding and abetting "crimes against humanity", after the fact, contrary to s.7(3.71) of the Criminal Code ;

to request and require that the Canadian government raise the issue of Criminal Code offences by Chinese consular staff against Canadian citizens exercising their constitutional and statutory rights on their soil as well as raise the issue of Chinese interference in domestic affairs contrary to Article 55 of said Vienna Convention;

to investigate and lay charges against those Canadian citizens party to the Chinese consular staff's Criminal Code offences;

to request that these issues be raised, by the Right Honourable Prime Minister Jean Chretien with President Jiang Zemin on his upcoming visit to China; and

to request a personal meeting with you, to discuss my clients' concerns about the publicly foreign subversion, intimidation, threats, incitement of hatred, counseling and aiding and abetting, after the fact, crimes against humanity, against Canadian citizens in their own country.

The Facts

Falun Gong practitioners are a peaceful group practicing a spiritual belief system to enhance and pursue the betterment of body, mind, and spirit, based on the universal principle of "Truth-Compassion-Forbearance". Their greatest alleged transgression is the peaceful exercises, meditation, and congregation of its practitioners in pursuit of this principle.

The People's Republic of China, in July of 1999, began a "crackdown" on members of this group which has included the murder, persecution, torture, detention, arbitrary and illegal imprisonment, committal to psychiatric and labour institutions without cause, as well as other cruel and inhumane treatment, which has been universally condemned by virtually every civilized and democratic nation, including Canada, as well as international human rights organizations.

These condemnations have included but are not limited to:a joint congressional Resolution by the U.S. Congress;

a European Parliament Resolution by the EU Parliament;

Canadian government protest and condemnation;

a U.S. sponsored complaint before the U.N. Committee for Human Rights;

recognition of asylum and persecution by judicial bodies in the U.S.A. and Canada, as well as other countries. ("Persecution" is a defined "crime against humanity" under s.7(3.71) of the Criminal Code of Canada . )

More disturbing, and altogether intolerable and statutorily and constitutionally unacceptable and repugnant, is the fact that, since the crackdown in China, Canadian citizens who are practitioners in Canada , regardless of race or creed of origin, have also been the subject of harassment, threats, and intimidation by Chinese foreign officials right here in Canada . These actions include:threatening phone calls;

direct interference at universities;

direct interference with the newspapers;

the sabotaging and crippling of Falun Gong websites in Canada;

interference with municipal officials offering greeting and designation of days to celebrate Canadian Falun Gong;

pressure on Canadian-Chinese community groups, who receive public federal funding from the government of Canada, to exclude Falun Gong practitioners from membership and participation;

like interference with other Canadian-Chinese community groups, as well as media and newspapers;

assault with running water (hoses) of elderly practitioners peacefully sitting in protest, on City of Toronto property, outside the consulate, with police permits to do so;

placing ads in Canadian newspaper(s) inciting hatred against Canadian Falun Gong practitioners and beliefs.

These incidents have occurred across the country, in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Windsor, as well as other cities to name a few.

However, more disturbing, and more baldly egregious were the invitations such as in Montreal, last year, to Canadian citizens to attend public domestic rallies, to be furnished false information and hate literature with the aim of requesting Canadian support in condemning the beliefs and activities of Canadian Falun Gong members in Canada.

This unacceptable interference with domestic issues, contrary to Article 55, of Section II, of Chapter II, of Schedule II, of the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act , which reads, in part, that consular officers have a

"...duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of [our] State..."

also took on a clearly criminal context and breached the clear text of the Criminal Code of Canada with recent events in Toronto set out below.

On January 21st, 2001, the consul-general in Toronto for the People's Republic of China took part, as the primary speaker, in a domestic public rally held off consulate premises, in Toronto's Chinatown, in what had been announced, in two Chinese-language Toronto newspapers, as a meeting to garnish support of Canadian citizens to "condemn" the activities of Falun Gong in Canada . The meeting had been pre-announced on January 16th, 2001.

On January 19th, 2001, I, on behalf of my clients, forwarded a letter to the Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China, as well as the two dailies. (I attach a copy of the letter, which is self-explanatory and sets out my clients' concerns at large as well as under the Criminal Code of Canada in particular.)

The rally was held with Falun Gong practitioners being excluded from what was otherwise advertised and held as a public rally open to everyone at large and attended by approximately 200 persons.

The rally was audio-recorded in its entirety. (I attach an audiotape in its Chinese original.)

The primary speaker at the rally was the consul general for the People's Republic of China. (I attach a copy of an English, verbatim, transcript of his speech).

(I also attach Chinese-language newspaper accounts of the rally both in their original texts as well as English translations of same.)

A sober review of the announcement and purpose of the rally, its scope, its content, as well as a review of the newspaper accounts and transcripts of the speech of the consul-general of the People's Republic of China, and its contents, in light of the other occurrences in Canada over the last twenty months, and in light of the indisputable "crimes against humanity" perpetrated by the Chinese regime against Falun Gong in China, leads to the inescapable conclusion that the actions, speech, publication, and attendance of the consul-general at this rally, not only breaches his privileges and "immunity" (limited as it is under the Act ), in interfering and in fact subverting the security and national security interests of Canada, our citizens, and our Constitution , but also manifests a prima facie case that Criminal Code of Canada offences have been committed. This by both consulate officers as well as those private

Canadian citizens counseling and aiding and abetting.

My clients therefore request investigation and the laying of charges as well as actions of expulsion taken against consulate officials. My clients find it completely unacceptable that their constitutionally entrenched rights to life, liberty, security of the person as well as their freedom of conscience, belief, and association can be publicly, illegally, and wantonly threatened by foreign agents of a foreign government on Canadian soil. No Canadian citizen can accept this subversion of our sovereignty and Constitution.

The Law

I would respectfully refer you to my January 19th, 2001 letter with respect to the Criminal Code of Canada and why my clients feel an offence has been committed against them. With respect to any "privilege" or myth of "immunity" that may be invoked by the Chinese, it is numbingly clear, from a plain review of the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act and the State Immunity Act , that no such privilege or immunity attaches to the prima facie criminal acts set out above, by the consular officers.

Article 5, of Section I, of Chapter I, of Schedule II, of the said Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act , being section 2 of the "Vienna Convention on Consular Relations ", clearly shows that the above-noted activities are not part of the "Consular Functions" of the consul-general and his staff. This is reinforced by Article 55 of same said provisions which reads:

Respect for the laws and regulations of the Receiving State

  1. Without prejudice to their privileges and immunities, it is the duty of all persons enjoying such privileges and immunities to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State. They also have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State .

The immunities afforded under the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act are spelled out in Articles 40 43, Section II, Chapter II, Schedule II, with 43 being the pivotal Article and reading:

Immunity from jurisdiction

1. Consular officers and consular employees shall not be amenable to the jurisdiction of the judicial or administrative authorities of the receiving State in respect of acts performed in the exercise of consular functions .

Article 41 reads:

Personal inviolability of consular officers

1. Consular officers shall not be liable to arrest or detention pending trial except in the case of a grave crime and pursuant to a decision by the competent judicial authority.

A "grave crime" is in turn defined by s.2(4) of the Act and it reads:

(4) The reference in paragraph 1 of Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations to a "grave crime" shall be construed as a reference to any offence created by an Act of Parliament for which an offender may be sentenced to imprisonment for five years or more .

1991, c.41, s.2; 1995, c.5, s.25.

Section 3 of the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act incorporates the above noted provisions when it reads:

...Articles...40, paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 41, Articles 43 to 45...of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, have the force of law in Canada in respect of all foreign states, regardless of whether those states are parties to those conventions.

The various threats, as well acts of intimidation, but more repugnantly, the public rally inciting hatred, which breach ss.319 and 7(3.71) of the Criminal Code , for the reasons set out in my letter of January 19th, 2001, are all "grave crimes" coming within the definition of s.2(4) of the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act , which in turn require the investigation and prosecution clearly set out and envisaged by Articles 40, 41, 42 and 43 of Section II, of Chapter II, of Schedule II, pursuant to s.3 of the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act .

This is further reinforced by the State Immunity Act , R.S.C., 1985, c.S-18 , with respect to civil liability, where it reads in s.3(1)

3. (1) Except as provided by this Act, a foreign state is immune from the jurisdiction of any court in Canada.

and further in s.6:

6. A foreign state is not immune from the jurisdiction of a court in any proceedings that relate to

  1. any death or personal injury, or
  2. any damage to or loss of property

that occurs in Canada.

and lastly in s.18:

18. This Act does not apply to criminal proceedings or proceedings in the nature of criminal proceedings.

It thus appears, from a plain reading, that there is no state immunity for:"grave crimes" as defined in s.2(4), et. seq. in the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act with respect to Criminal Code offences committed in Canada by consular officers ;

civil suit for injury to person or property; and

that the immunity offered under the State Immunity Act civil statute, does not apply to criminal proceedings, and therefore there is no immunity from criminal proceedings;

and in fact the entire scheme of the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act and the State Immunity Act clearly envisage the criminal prosecution of consulate officials who commit criminal offences under our criminal law which carry a sentence of five years or more being defined as "grave crimes" under s. 2(4) of said Act .

It is trite that any Cabinet Regulations or Ministerial policy granting a mythical "blanket" immunity to any consulate official is clearly ultra vires and invalid the clear statutory provisions of Parliament as reinforced by the Constitution Acts, 1867 and 1982 .

I would, on behalf of my clients, request and welcome a meeting to further discuss my clients' dire concerns as Canadian citizens of various racial and ethnic ancestry who are Falun Gong practitioners and the Canadian object of these criminal activities by foreign agents of a foreign government on Canadian soil, who treat this, in Canada, as a "Chinese domestic issue".

I would further and humbly request, in accordance with the Supreme Court of Canada ruling in Air Canada vs. A.G. of B.C. ,[1986] 2 S.C.R. 539, that the Attorney General and other Ministers of the Crown fulfill their constitutional duties of their office, particularly when it deals with matters of the physical and psychological integrity and safety of its citizens which has been threatened as a result of a simple and peaceful exercise of those citizens' constitutional rights to freedom of conscience, religion, and association, and take the appropriate statutory and constitutional diplomatic and prosecutory steps to which both my clients and all Canadian citizens are entitled.

In the words of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Air Canada case:

"...All executive powers, whether they derive from statute, common law or prerogative, must be adapted to conform to constitutional imperatives."

I further humbly submit that a failure or refusal on the part of the Canadian government to fulfill its statutory and constitutional duty to act would constitute an act (and/or omission) rendering the repugnant and illegal actions of these foreign consular officers, in conjunction with those who are Canadian citizens party to those actions, as the actions of agents of the Canadian government itself, constituting "state action" thus triggering and requiring constitutional protection and remedy under both the Charter , as well as other provisions of the Constitution Acts, 1867 and 1982 .

Should you not see fit to grant me, on behalf of my clients, a meeting, but should your Ministry have any questions or require any further information, please feel free to contact me.

Lastly, for not wishing to live in fear of a foreign government in their own country, my clients, in the peaceful pursuit of truth-compassion-forbearance, feel compelled to concurrently release this as an open letter, with its attachments, to the media and all sitting MPs.

Thank you very much for your patience and consideration in reviewing this letter and attachments.

Yours very truly,

GALATI, RODRIGUES, AZEVEDO & Associates

Per:

Rocco Galati, B.A., LL.B, LL.M.

RG*cfc

cc: Solicitor General of Canada

Solicitor General for Ontario

R.C.M.P.

O.P.P.

Toronto Police Department