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sometimes to foreigners, who normally face long waits for voluntary donations of such organs in their home countries. "Our conclusion came not from any one single item of evidence, but rather the piecing together of all the evidence we considered. Each portion of the evidence we considered is, in itself, verifiable and, in most cases, incontestable. Put together, they paint a damning whole picture. It is their combination that convinced us." Matas says from an early age, he always wanted to do something related to the Holocaust and human rights. "I just wasn't sure what that was." He tried politics as a Liberal candidate for Parliament in 1979, 1980, and 1984 without success. As a lawyer, though, he found he could make a difference. "I had an example in my fam- ily," he says. "My uncle, Roy Matas, was a lawyer and a judge. I also realized that because my family were not Holocaust vic- tims, I could deal with Holocaust-related and human rights issues analytically and draw lessons from the Holocaust." Matas graduated from the University of Manitoba with a BA in 1964. He fol- lowed that with a master of arts from Princeton University in 1965; a bach- elor of arts (jurisprudence) degree from Oxford University in 1967; and a bach- elor of civil law from the same institu- tion in 1968. He became a barrister in England in 1969 and was called to the bar of Manitoba in 1971. He was introduced to refugee cases while working at Winnipeg's Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP in 1970-71. He subsequently served as special assistant to the solicitor general of Canada and as an associate of Schwartz McJannet Weinberg. He has been in private prac- tice specializing in refugee, immigration, and human rights law since 1979. "My refugee work led to my involvement in human rights issues," says Matas. In the human rights field, he has worked for many years with B'nai Brith Canada as well as with Amnesty International. He has tackled war crimes, South African apart- heid, Communist-era repression, and, more recently, child pornography, child prostitution, and trafficking. The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in October. Matas views the nomination as helping to high- light the persecution of the Falun Gong. "Since we announced our investigation in May 2006, there have been many changes in China and abroad." The Chinese gov- ernment has banned the sale of organs, required civilian hospitals engaged in transplants to register with the ministry of health, and shut down web sites used to advertise prices of organ transplants and short waiting times for transplants. "The government of China announced last August the creation of an organ donation system as a pilot project in 10 locations," says Matas. "When we began our work, the official Chinese govern- ment position was that all organs were sourced from voluntary donations, this in spite of the absence of an organ dona- tion system. Today, the government of China acknowledges that its predomin- ant source of organs is prisoners. What is more, the government of China now accepts that this sourcing of organs from prisoners is improper." These changes are not enough though. For Falun Gong practitioners, matters have gotten worse, not better, says Matas. "Since we began our work, the number of prisoners sentenced to death and then executed has decreased dramatically, but the number of transplants, at first decreased just a little, and then went back to traditional levels. Since the only other substantial source of organs for trans- plants in China besides Falun Gong prac- titioners is prisoners sentenced to death, a decrease of sourcing from prisoners sentenced to death means an increase of sourcing from Falun Gong practitioners. "Though the violations against Falun Gong practitioners have become more acute since our work began, the substan- tial movement in policy and practice both inside and outside China encour- ages us. The willingness to change is there. We need to continue to press for changes until the abuse ends." ntitled-5 1 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com JULY 2010 21 6/9/10 3:40:08 PM