HRIC Hosts “Commemorating Tiananmen: Thirty-Six Years of Resistance in Canada” Panel Discussion at the University of Toronto
On March 9th, 2026, Human Rights in China (HRIC) hosted a panel discussion titled “Commemorating Tiananmen: Thirty-Six Years of Resistance in Canada” at the University of Toronto. The event featured four esteemed panelists from three generations of activists: Fengsuo Zhou (Executive Director of HRIC), Cheuk Kwan (Co-Chair of Toronto Association for Democracy in China), Jan Wong (a Canadian author and journalist), and Ruohui Yang (Li Community). This panel was organized in collaboration with University of Toronto students and chaired by Dr. Lynette Ong, Distinguished Professor of Chinese Politics at the University of Toronto. More than thirty participants joined, spanning generations, all coming together to reflect on history and the present.
The event began with brief introductions by Dr. Lynette Ong, followed by ten-minute segments by each panelist, who shared their experiences and activities in relation to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and ongoing efforts of commemoration.
Jan Wong provided background context on the movements leading up to the Tiananmen Square protests, explaining that in her youth she was a Maoist student studying at Peking University. She shared her perspective on the social changes during the post-Mao era in the 1980s leading up to 1989 and recounted her experience as a firsthand witness to the Tiananmen Square Massacre, working as the Beijing correspondent for Globe and Mail.
Fengsuo Zhou recounted his personal experiences during 1989, where he was one of the first student protesters to lay a wreath at the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square, as well as one of the last to leave when martial law troops laid siege to clear the square. He was later placed on a nationwide most wanted list and imprisoned. He described his efforts over the past thirty-six years advocating for democracy, freedom, and human rights, particularly focusing on the Tiananmen Mothers and other victims of June Fourth.
In recent years, testimonies about 1989 have continued to emerge. At the event, Zhou shared a newly unveiled photograph from that time, depicting a severely injured protester, his body wrapped in bandages, raising a “V” sign—a symbol of victory and hope—at a moment between life and death. He also presented a red commemorative cap produced by members of the Canadian Embassy’s Beijing staff who remained after the massacre, bearing the word “Survivor.”
Next, Cheuk Kwan gave his perspective on Hong Kong’s experience of 1989, including its solidarity and support of protestors on the mainland. With the increased suppression of public commemoration of the Tiananmen Square massacre in Hong Kong, he discussed TADC’s continued efforts to memorialize June Fourth in Toronto, including the construction of the Goddess of Democracy bronze statue at York University, the Broken Bicycle monument at the University of Toronto, and the Nobel Peace Laureate Liu Xiaobo memorial sculpture in Ottawa.
Finally, Ruohui Yang, founder of the youth group Citizens Assembly, gave a presentation on his digital activism efforts with the Li Community, a twitter account with over 2.2M followers which shares materials on June Fourth and ongoing anti-CCP activities and has attracted widespread attention inside and outside the Great Firewall. Every year around June Fourth, the historical materials and introductions by HRIC about the 1989 June Fourth events posted on Teacher Li’s Twitter account draw 10s of millions of views from mostly inside the wall. He shared the organization’s model of workflow under intense censorship, working with anonymous submissions and stringent verification methods to create a structured public database in order to pressure the Chinese government.
Participants also voiced support for political prisoners in Hong Kong. Hong Kong society has made significant sacrifices in defending the truth of 1989 pro-democracy movements. Today, figures such as Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan, and Jimmy Lai, who contributed to the commemoration of June Fourth, face heavy sentences as the Hong Kong government seeks to silence discussion of 1989. Overseas civil society groups like the Toronto Alliance continue to play a vital role in preserving historical memory and upholding justice.
The panel discussion then addressed the changing landscape of repression over the past thirty six years, as panelists shared their personal experiences with the Chinese government’s expansion of transnational repression and digital surveillance. The event concluded with a short Q&A session with members of the audience.
Human Rights in China thanks the University of Toronto community for their engaged attendance in this event.
Having looked at the CCP’s reaction in the aftermath of Tiananmen & similar protests in other Chinese cities,
I found that of those survivors who were tracked down in China & punished for their participation, it was workers rather than students who who were treated the most harshly. I guess the Party saw them as posing the biggest threat to CCP rule.