We hope you are making plans to participate in the 2008 National March for Life in Ottawa, May 7-9. Join thousands of pro-life Canadians to witness against the injustice of abortion. Abortion has been rampant in Canada since 1969 and more than 3.5 million babies have been killed in their mothers’ wombs since then. It is time to stand up and say enough.

Last year, more than 6,000 pro-lifers marched through the streets of Ottawa to demonstrate to the public and the politicians that Canadians have not forgotten about the victims of abortion and to demand that our elected officials take notice, too. They must realize that Canada needs to enact legislation to protect the unborn; that rhetoric about upholding human rights is empty as long as abortion takes the lives of over 100,000 unborn children each and every year.

On May 7, there is a Mass at St. Theresa’s Parish, 95 Somerset West to be celebrated by Kingston Archbishop Brendan O’Brien, followed by a touching Candlelight Vigil at the Human Rights Memorial at the corner of Lisgar and Elgin Streets.

On May 8, there will be a pro-life Mass at Notre Dame Basilica at 10:00 a.m. to be celebrated by Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast. There will also be a prayer service at St. George’s Anglican Church 152 Metcalfe St. at 10:00 a.m.

At noon, thousands of Canadians will begin to assemble on Parliament Hill in anticipation of speeches before the March through the streets of Ottawa. The March is followed by the moving personal stories of the men and women of Silent No More, people who regret their abortions. That evening at 6:00 p.m. is the Rose Dinner. There are a limited number of tickets so order yours today and do not miss out on the great meal, merry socializing and the inspiring speaker.

There will be excellent speakers throughout the program who will inform and inspire you. Hear Alveda King, the niece of U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.; at the March for Life in Washington this past January, she announced that the battle against abortion was a fight for the civil rights of the unborn and led the crowd of more than 200,000 in a stirring rendition of We Shall Overcome.

Fr. Frank Pavone and Janet Morana of Priests for Life will be there. Fr. Pavone is one of the most prominent religious leaders of the pro-life movement in the world and he brings vast experience in the abortion battle from his wide travels speaking out against the slaughter of the unborn.

As usual, a number of politicians will address the crowd on Parliament Hill. Unfortunately, we cannot confirm who will be there until that day due to the vagaries of the Parliamentary schedule, but in past years the speakers have congratulated those in the movement who continue to keep the flame for life alight; they have also noted that abortion is not a partisan issue as they urge pro-life Canadians to continue the fight to protect the unborn.

 

The Youth Conference on May 9 will feature speakers such as John-Henry Westen of LifeSiteNews.com, Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Mary Ann Kuharski of ProLife Across America, and others.

We look forward to seeing you in Ottawa for the March and whatever other events in which you plan to participate. If you cannot make it, please consider sending a donation to help offset the costs of the March (security, large audio system) and the youth conference. Each year, thousands of Canadians, from high school and universities and veterans of the pro-life movement, return home energized, motivated to do yet more for the cause of life. This year promises to be the same hope-filled, inspiring March. Please join us.

 

 

C-484, Ken Epp’s Private Member’s bill to protect the unborn victims of crime, passed Second Reading on March 5, by a vote of 147-137. It now heads to Committee which can support the bill, send it back to the full House of Commons and urge its defeat, or the bill can get stuck in Committee. NDP MP Pat Martin says pro-choice legislators should do everything in their power to prevent the bill from making it out of Committee – never mind that the legislation is explicitly not an ‘anti-abortion’ bill.

The Committee makeup includes a majority of MPs who opposed C-484 in the second vote, so there is an uphill battle to get justice for unborn victims of crimes committed against their mothers. But it was always an uphill battle considering the full frontal assault by pro-abortion forces to defeat this bill. While we were pleased to see it pass, the vote was also sobering as it exposed the extremism of many MPs who claim to support ‘choice’. While a vote in favour of the bill is not an indication of who is pro-life, a vote against it demonstrates those who are so radically in favour of killing the unborn that they could not support legislation that supports a woman’s right to choose life.

The bill recognizes the unborn child as a second victim of crime when he or she is harmed during the commission of a crime against the mother. Many abortion advocates opposed the bill claiming it would establish fetal rights and endanger abortion ‘rights’ despite the fact that Epp’s bill  specifically says it is not applicable in cases where women choose to legally terminate their pregnancy. The Bloc Quebecois, all but one NDP, four Tories, and 55 Liberals voted against the bill. Nearly a quarter of the Liberal caucus (27) voted for the bill, as did NDP MP Peter Stoffer and 126 Conservatives. Jack Layton, the Leader of the NDP and Gilles Duceppe, Leader of the BQ, voted against C-484.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper voted for the bill, and Stephane Dion was absent from the vote. Ayden Cocceli whose pregnant sister-in-law Turan Cocceli was killed last October, is upset with Layton. In a meeting Cocelli had last year with the NDP leader, Layton indicated that he supported C-484, yet he ended up whipping the vote against the bill. It does not surprise us, but it deeply saddens us, that there are politicians who are so pro-abortion that they are willing to ignore the pleas of family members who have lost daughters and grandchildren and the shortcomings of a legal system that compounds the injustice by failing to take into account all the victims of crime.

Action Item: Contact your MPs and urge them to support C-484. Write to your MP - postage free - at  House of Commons, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1A 0A6.

Convicted murderer Robert Latimer was given day parole after he appealed a National Parole Board decision rendered in December which refused to give him early release. In December, the Board said he displayed no remorse and found him a 10% risk of reoffending, but on February 27, the National Parole Board Appeal Division agreed to release him to a halfway house. He was released in March and after a brief visit with his family in Saskatchewan, moved to Ottawa, where he requested to be released. He is unremorseful, is seeking (with no legal justification) a new trial and has said he will raise his cause with politicians.

We are deeply disturbed by the signal the Appeal Division’s decision sends about the value of the life of people with disabilities. We are also concerned that he will play the victim, with strong media sympathy, of a supposedly unjust judicial system in his lobbying efforts to reduce legal protections for vulnerable persons. Canada’s disabled organizations are dismayed by this development that increases the threat to their very lives.

Mark your calendar now for the National Pro-life Conference, October 2-4. The conference is hosted by Campaign Life Coalition Toronto and co-sponsored by Life Canada and Campaign Life Coalition and will be held at the Marriot Airport Hotel in Mississauga, Ont. The planning is progressing nicely and we envision a strongly varied array of speakers and topics to interest everyone. More detailed information will be available in an up-coming CLC National News.

A last minute reminder to book your tickets for the 25th anniversary celebration dinner for The Interim. Help support the pro-life community’s newspaper and recognize the important contribution it makes to informing the movement and inspiring activism.

The guest speaker will be Andrea Mrozek of the Institute for Marriage and Family Canada and a former editor at the Western Standard. She will address the issue of bias in the mainstream media and her experience at the Standard. Being published in the National Post will provide insights into rare success stories in getting the pro-life message to a wider audience. Tickets for this event are $75 or $675 for a table of 10. Call The Interim at (416) 204-1687 to order today.

 

The first annual Niagara Region Right to Life’s Golf for Life tournament will be held at the Royal Woodbine Golf Club on Thursday, May 29, 2008. This will be an exciting event for all golf lovers and all amateurs and duffers are welcome. It is also a great pro-life fundraiser. It includes 18 holes of golf with cart and a four player scramble format with shot-gun start. There will be a delicious BBQ lunch and supper and exciting prizes. Please see enclosed flyer for more details. Sponsorship opportunities are also available.

 

CLC needs people with a great love for the pro-life movement who are willing to sacrifice a small amount of their time in November or December to help organize Christmas Cake sales in their Church or community for the Christmas Cake 2008 Campaign. The Christmas Cakes sales are vitally important as a major fundraiser each year to fund the projects our CLC staff and volunteers work on to advance the culture of life in Canada. If you have had any fund raising experience your contribution can be invaluable to the pro-life work we do. If you have not had any direct experience, often two people have formed a complementary team selling in their community.

 

Yours for life and family
Jim Hughes
CLC National President