22,000+ Canadians at the March For Life
On Thursday May 12th, pro-lifers once again descended on Parliament Hill by the tens of thousands, in this 19th annual National March For Life. Beautiful sunshiny weather greeted the hundreds of busloads of human rights defenders who came to demand legal protection for preborn children, and to ask MPs to vote against state-sponsored killing of people at the other end of life, via the Liberal government's euthanasia Bill, C-14.
We were blessed to have a crowd of more than 22,000 pro-lifers, young and old, continuing to make this event the largest annual protest at Parliament Hill. As in the past, people under the age of 25 made up the majority of participants.
Astonishingly however, the mainstream media reported wildly false attendance numbers. It was commonly reported that only 3,000 to 4,000 marchers were present. Unfortunately, we don't have a panorama photo to show a fulll, wide-angle shot from left to right of all the pro-lifer demonstrators. However, have a look for yourself at the two photos of the Parlament Hill lawn below, and you can clearly see there tens of thousands of human beings packed into the lawn.
View of the left side of the crowd (looking from the steps of Parliament):
View of the centre of the crowd (continuing from the image above):
It is surprising that any journalist in good conscience could see this crowd, and then make the claim that this is only 3,000 people. For their own sake, one can only hope that reporters didn't lie, but rather, looked at the parliament grounds before peak time, before all the buses had arrived, and wrongly assumed that's all the people that were coming. Regardless, some corrections are in order from the mainstream media.
Nonetheless, the low-balling of numbers by the media doesn't matter. The March For Life is not intended for the media. It is intended to send a message to the Members of Parliament, who were only meters away. And we know they heard the message loud and clear.
Before the March through the streets, pro-lifers heard presentations from the steps of Parliament Hill. Pope Francis sent a personal message of encouragement and his "deep gratitude" to Canadian pro-lifers at the March. The leader of more than 1 billion Catholics worldwide sent his message through the Vatican's Nuncio to Canada, Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi.
Other notable speakers on the Hill included:
| Members of Parliament | Senators | Religious leaders | |
|
Harold Albrecht, Kitchener-Conestoga, ON |
Tobias Enverga Jr., ON |
Archbishop of Ottawa Terrence Prendergast |
The Nigerian-born pro-life activist, Obianuju Ekeocha, who came to Canada as an invited guest speaker due to her expertise in fighting abortion in developing countries, criticized Justin Trudeau's Liberal government for exporting abortion to Africa with Canadian taxpayer dollars. Ekeocha passionately pleaded from the mic to Prime Minister Trudeau:
"I beg you to not use the blood of the innocent to pave the path to development. You can never buy development with the blood of the innocent.”
MP Viersen, speaking at the March for the first time, added to that concern, the Trudeau government's full-throated support for legalizing the killing of patients by their doctors. Viersen stated during his speech:
"When you combine this with the recent legislation on assisted suicide and euthanasia, it’s not hard to see that this Liberal government is quickly becoming the government of death".
Bill C-14 introduced by the Liberals and currently being debated, will allow wide-open killing. It is not limited to the terminally ill, nor to those who are dying, and even appears to permit it for those with "psychological" suffering. The Trudeau government has even signalled that it plans to legalize euthanasia for children as well as for the mentally ill. Both these categories of persons cannot, by definition, give informed consent.
After speeches were concluded on the Hill, pro-lifers poured into the streets and began the big March through downtown Ottawa, led by police. Enjoy the following pictures from the March through downtown Ottawa.
Filling Wellington Street, as marchers leave the grounds of Parliament:
At the head of the march, lead by marshalls, banner carriers, followed by 4th degree Knights of Columbus members:
View from the rear, including one of many anti-euthanasia signs that people brought with them:
An incredible diversity of sign messages filled the streets, even an economic one:
Youth members from Toronto's St.Thomas Syyro-Malabar Catholic Church march in the procession with their home-made signs and customized t-shirts:
The nation’s capital wasn’t the only place where pro-life Canadians were gathering en masse. Thousands of men, women and children marched and rallied in front of their legislature buildings in provinces across the country.
Help us grow for 2017
We look forward to making next year an even bigger and more exciting March For Life. Please consider making a donation to ensure we have the financial resources to do so. This year, the National March For Life cost over $200,000 to organize. We need your help to continue advocating for the sanctity of life in this powerful way.
Please donate now by clicking here.