The on and off federal election seems it might once again be on very soon. By the time you receive this, it may have been called. It might come later this Spring or it might even be averted until later this year or next. The point is that we must be prepared and you must be, too. Make a determined effort to respectfully ask candidates and their volunteers who call you or knock on your door, where the candidate stands on the life issues.

Think ahead of time what questions you will ask and what materials you will have on hand should the opportunity suddenly come up. Actively seek out opportunities to talk to your candidates. Make sure that the encounters end with them clearly knowing you are pro-life and vote only for pro-life candidates. Resist every temptation, to help, donate to, put up a sign for or vote for a pro-abortion candidate. It is to our nation’s shame and the loss of now 3.5 million lives that many pro-life minded, Canadians have repeatedly supported pro-abortion candidates. On the other hand, do something significant to assist candidates who are pro-life. Talk to your friends, family and colleagues about the candidates’ views on abortion, euthanasia and other life issues.

We have been sending the CLC questionnaire to candidates for more than a year now and will ratchet up the pressure once an election is called to get their answers. Their responses, or refusals to respond, and other election coverage will be available at LifeSiteNews.com so it will be up-to-the-minute. Once the election has been called, if you need more information about your local candidates, please contact CLC offices.

Lastly, we ask that you forward any information you encounter about the candidates – newspaper clippings, their responses to you or their answers at all-candidates meetings or local interviews – to our Toronto office to the attention of Jeff Gunnarson. We strongly depend on this information from our supporters. It is VERY important. CLC’s strength has always been that it is a grassroots organization.

On March 17 there will be four by-elections, called due to early retirements from four Liberal MPs: Toronto Centre (Ontario), Willowdale (Ontario), Vancouver Quadra (British Columbia), Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River (Saskatchewan). We are working extra hard to identify pro-life candidates in those ridings and will contact supporters in those ridings to inform them when we identify them.

CLC gave numerous television and radio interviews on January 28 and on the preceding days that marked the 20th anniversary of the Supreme Court Morgentaler decision in 1988. We noted that the Supreme Court did not create a right to abortion and that abortion operates in a legal vacuum in Canada. We took great pains to emphasize that January 28, 1988 was only one more date in the long line of events that led to unborn children dying. The more significant date we recognize is May 14, 1969, when the Trudeau Omnibus Bill opened the floodgates to abortion. Since then 3.5 million unborn babies have been killed.

The Morgentaler decision threw out some minimal restrictions but did not greatly change anything. The so-called therapeutic committees (which were disbanded after the 1988 decision) rubber stamped nearly every request so that the abortion numbers did not dramatically change after the Supreme Court’s 2008 ruling. Yes, the numbers did go up but they had already been on a constant rise every year since 1969 and the abortuary numbers were now being added as well.. During our media interviews we also had the opportunity to talk about the nature of abortion, the harm that it causes women and the humanity of the child in the womb.

One interesting observation is that reporters were far less hostile to the pro-life side this time and gave us the opportunity to answer questions without interruption. A number of times, in the green room where we get ready before the show, the behind-the-scenes workers gave friendly smiles, exchanged words of appreciation for our work or whispered that they were pregnant. Something seems to be changing and it appears to be for the better.

Getting a fair shake in the media is something we have not generally experienced in the past and it is too early to be sure of in the future, but it is good that the public finally gets both sides presented on this vital issue and that the pro-life position is given a relatively fair chance to be presented. There is hope yet for fairness in the media and the opportunity for the public to make up its own mind rather than be unfairly influenced by a biased and one-sided presentation of the issue.

 

 

On January 28, there was a five hour public witness against the injustice of the Supreme Court Morgentaler decision by members of Lifeline, the pro-life club at Carleton University, and the city of Ottawa’s pro-life community. They challenged the pro-abortion notion that the Supreme Court decision was beneficial for Canada, erecting a visual display on Parliament Hill, showing the truth behind abortion.

The group mourned the loss of the lives of two million unborn babies since the 1988 Supreme Court decision which threw out Canada’s minimal restrictions on abortion. They also distributed pamphlets to passers-by. Nicholas McLeod, of Carleton Lifeline, said “We hope to expose the truth of this ‘choice’ and challenge Canada to do better for women in crisis pregnancies.”

Estimates for this year’s March for Life in Washington were as high as 250,000, as pro-lifers from across the United States and the world, including many from Canada, marked the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing widespread abortion in the U.S.

The rain may have dampened the clothes of participants but it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd as they cheered the pro-life speeches, including President George W. Bush’s telephone address. One of the more moving moments was when Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, told the participants that this is a civil rights march, and led the pro-life crowd in a stirring rendition of ‘We Shall Overcome’.

The pro-life message was presented with hope and joy in the U.S. capital, knowing that one day the discrimination against unborn children will, like the injustice of racial discrimination, come to an end.

Under employment insurance regulations, abortion is considered an illness, so women who have abortions after 20 weeks are eligible for maternity benefits. As the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation (CTF) noted, Canadian governments spend about $50-million a year to directly pay for surgical abortions, but taxpayers are also on the hook for abortion in a number of less obvious ways such as EI payments.

When women have abortions within the first 19 weeks of pregnancy it is regarded the same as a spontaneous miscarriage and they can receive EI benefits for up to three and a half months. If the abortion is committed after 20 weeks, however, EI allows benefits to be paid under the maternity program instead, for up to three and a half months.

This is obscene. The CTF also pointed to Ottawa’s funding of International Planned Parenthood Federation ($18 million over four years). John Williamson, federal director of the CTF says that, despite the mantra of abortion being a decision best being left to a woman and her doctor, the federal and provincial governments and taxpayers are still involved through the payment of abortions, the EI program and the subsidizing of Planned Parenthood’s abortion advocacy.

On January 25, a broad array of pro-abortion activists came together at the University of Toronto Law School, for an interdisciplinary symposium commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Supreme Court Morgentaler decision. Pro-abortion academics and lawyers, journalists and politicians, activists and abortionists presented to a crowd of about 100 people, many of them pro-life, attempting to make the case that abortion was a hard-won ‘right’ but that ‘access’ is imperiled.

The pro-abortion bias was not surprising considering that the University of Toronto Faculty of Law’s co-sponsor was the National Abortion Federation. The NAF’s Vicki Saporta introduced keynote speaker Henry Morgentaler who said that legal abortion made the world “a kinder and gentler place”.

Journalist Heather Mallick and Liberal MP Dr. Carolyn Bennett tried to examine the state of the abortion debate amongst the broader public. Both worried about the dangers that “religious extremism” present to Canada’s abortion regime. Bennett said that she was particularly disturbed by the size and scale of the annual “March for Life.” She also noted a variety of pro-life quotes and then declared: “This is wacko.”

Well, just who is wacko – someone who supports the killing of children before birth or someone who opposes the killing?

After the conference, Jonathan Kay, a columnist for the National Post and abortion supporter who attended the U of T event, complained that the presentations failed to recognize any nuance to the abortion issue and noted, in particular, that the speakers ignored the subject of late-term abortions even when the issue was raised by questions from the audience. Kay said even if one accepts, as he does, legal abortion in the first trimester there is nothing wrong with debating the issue and examining ways in which to limit the abortion license.

But no, the gathering of abortion advocates at the U of T conference wouldn’t have any of that; its purpose was to scare supporters and media alike about the supposed lack of abortion access in Canada. 3.5 million children killed are still not enough for them. In fact there does not seem to be any limit to the number of dead babies that they want.

The media largely ignored the conference, perhaps realizing that, despite its location on a university campus, it was really more a love-in than an academic conference. Even the ‘bomb scare’ was barely covered, leading some pro-lifers to observe that it reeked of a publicity stunt.

What is clear from the proceedings is that when they say they want abortion to be “safe, legal and accessible,” they are really saying that despite the fact there are more than 116,000 abortions in Canada each and every year, abortion advocates don’t believe there are enough abortions. Like the abortion supporters in Parliament who oppose the Unborn Victims of Crime private member’s bill that recognizes the choice of mothers who want to carry their unborn children to term, they have little concern for choice. They are pro-death. They are pro-abortion.

The Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons has issued guidelines for doctors, that says that doctors, – not patients or their families – have the right to decide when life-sustaining treatment can be withdrawn. The announcement was made amidst a court battle between Grace Hospital in Winnipeg and the family of 84-year-old Orthodox Jew, Samuel Golubchuk, over whether or not doctors can starve and dehydrate to death the brain injured patient. Alarmingly, a Grace General Hospital lawyer told the court that doctors “have the sole right to make decisions about treatment - even if it goes against a patient’s religious beliefs.”

Samuel Golubchuk regained consciousness in January and the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench has reserved its decision. Unfortunately, the Canadian Medical Association supports Grace Hospital in its fight to over-ride the wishes of the family. In the meantime, Justice Perry Schulman of the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench upheld an injunction to prevent Grace General from removing life-sustaining care from Golubchuk. Justice Shulman ordered that his decision be attached to Golubchuk’s hospital chart to ensure that medical staff know that they cannot remove life-sustaining care – including nutrition and hydration.

The Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons has spoken about the larger issues involved with end-of-life care because these circumstances are far from rare. The ultimate decision, says Dr. Bill Pope, registrar of the College, lies with the physician, and there is no need to heed the wishes of patients or families. “Doctors are permitted to make that decision,” he insisted. The guidelines say the “minimum goal” of life-sustaining treatment, including food and water, is for patients to recover to a level in which they can be aware of themselves, their environment and their existence.

Alex Schadenberg, the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, said the guidelines reflect current trends in bioethics that designate some patients as persons and others as disposable, according to purely utilitarian criteria. Schadenberg warns that because of the new College guidelines, “If you have a child with a significant cognitive disability or a parent with dementia you cannot bring them to the hospital in Manitoba because it would be a death sentence.” The pro-life position on end-of-life care has never required that extraordinary measures be used to keep people alive artificially forever, but it does recognize, as the medical establishment once did, that food and water is not treatment but a basic, necessary, minimal level of care to which every individual has a right.

The Ontario division of the Canadian Federation of Students, a national association of student unions, declared itself to be a pro-abortion organization and that pro-life students’ groups are, as a matter of policy, not welcome on Canadian university campuses. At its January conference, the organization that claims to represent 300,000 full and part-time students in Ontario, voted to support individual student unions that want to ban pro-life groups from campus and shut down balanced discussion of the issue. In recent years, pro-life clubs at Carleton and Lakehead universities have been blocked by extremist campus student unions (although Carleton won official sanction in January).

Sandy Hudson, the CFS-Ontario Women’s Commissioner, defended discrimination against pro-life students, comparing allowing an “anti-choice group” to allowing a white supremacist group on campus. Joyce Arthur of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada compared students who plead for the lives of unborn children and informed consent for women to neo-Nazis, and said as such they should not receive support or official sanction from student unions. It is ridiculous that Joyce Arthur brings up Nazism considering she is a defender of the modern holocaust of abortion.

But the larger point is that university student unions are more likely to obstruct the efforts of campus pro-life clubs by limiting their finances, activities and outreach. It is blatantly obvious who the real extremists and enemies of freedom are, and it isn’t the pro-lifers. Canadians are under the mistaken impression that universities are a place for free and spirited debates; we know what the pro-abortion side is afraid of – the truth!

Two separate Human Rights Commission complaints launched by student pro-life groups in British Columbia have received rulings. Pro-life students at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, had their request to form a campus club refused by the student union and launched a complaint, but the tribunal will not hear the case. It ruled that since the pro-life position is not specifically a religious one, a complaint claiming discrimination based on religious beliefs would fail. At the same time, students from Capilano College in North Vancouver, will have their complaint heard after the tribunal refused a request by the college and the student union to dismiss it.

There, too, student union officials refused official recognition of a pro-life club. It is still far from clear what the outcome for the Capilano College pro-life students will be, but some pro-lifers are worried that the whole Human Rights Commission apparatus is rigged against the pro-life cause and the Christian faith. John Hof, head of Campaign Life Coalition BC, suggests bypassing the Commission and seeking redress in legitimate courts by making a legal claim that their Charter-protected rights to free speech have been denied by their universities. Hof says that Human Rights Commissions do not protect genuine human rights but rather have been fixed to stifle politically unwelcome speech.

Liberal MP Keith Martin (Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca) has called for the abolition of the clause in the Canadian Human Rights Act, 13(1), that makes it possible for special interest groups to file petty grievance complaints through the Human Rights Commissions. He presented his motion amidst the public outcry over the way Federal and Provincial Human Rights Commissions are being used to punish those with politically unwelcome views. Currently, cases are being considered against Maclean’s magazine for having allegedly offended Muslims, and against Catholic Insight magazine and the Christian Heritage Party for their criticism of the radical gay agenda. A case against Ezra Levant was dropped by the Muslim complainant after Levant’s huge media exposure of the complaint.

Martin, a former Canadian Alliance MP who changed parties in 2004 because he didn’t like the CA’s supposed social conservatism, introduced a motion that would delete subsection 13(1) which makes it a “discriminatory practice” for individuals or groups to communicate messages that are “likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt.” He is worried about the effect it has on Charter-protected rights including the freedom of expression. We sent Martin a note of support, expressing our gratitude at his courageous stance. Liberal leader Stephane Dion has requested that Martin withdraw his motion, but the B.C. MP says he will not.

Ezra Levant, former publisher of the Western Standard, and a victim of a human rights complaint for publishing the so-called Danish cartoons that led to global rioting by radical Muslims, has praised Martin’s efforts to rein in the commissions. “If a progressive, young, hip Liberal MP from an urban seat feels comfortable proposing this bill,” Levant wrote on his website, “it is a sign that reforming these commissions is politically safe, even for a Conservative Government still worried about being tagged as ‘anti-human rights’.”

However, much to the consternation of everyone concerned about this serious issue, it appears the Tories are determined to sink Martin’s motion or at least let it suffer death by inattention. An internal memo to all Conservative MPs from the office of the Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson, undoubtedly given under the direction of PM Stephen Harper, directs Conservative MPs to remain noncommittal on support for Liberal MP Keith Martin’s motion M-446.

We do not comprehend what they are afraid of this time. It is straightforward, a no-brainer. The commissions are clearly abusing their mandate. There is wide support for the Martin corrective measure. The high profile complaints against Levant and Mark Steyn have made the case for reform more public and stronger than ever. This is the most politically expedient time to take action.

As The Interim noted in its February cover story, that when he was the head of the National Citizens Coalition in 1999, Harper said that Human Rights Commissions endangered personal freedoms and called for their abolition. We sent a letter to Martin thanking him for his motion. We call upon the Government to support Keith Martin’s motion to limit the scope of the Canadian Human Rights Commission by eliminating any jurisdiction over political speech or religious practices as well as the exercise of freedom of the press by eliminating subsection 13(1).

Action Item: Contact your MPs and urge them to support Keith Martin’s motion by publicly speaking in favour of it and voting for it when it comes up in the House.. Write your MP, postage-free, at House of Commons Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1A 0A6.

Speaking on February 4, the Day of Life celebrated in Italy, Pope Benedict XVI told an audience at his noon Angelus, that it is up to “each according to his or her possibilities, profession and responsibilities, to feel in themselves an obligation to love and serve life, from its beginning to its natural end.” He added: “It is, in fact, everyone’s duty to welcome human life as a gift to be respected, protected and promoted, even more so when it is fragile and in need of attention and care, either before birth or when it is in its final stages.”

We are all called to action for the unborn. First, it all begins with prayer. Pray for an end to abortion. Pray for women facing crisis pregnancies and for those who should or could be supportive of them and of their babies, including the babies’ fathers. Pray for pro-life groups combating the culture of death. After prayer, there is still much we can do.

It may be something as simple as speaking up when a family member or colleague at work defends abortion, or a parent providing pro-life information and guidance, or something more public such as visiting your MP to urge him or her to protect the unborn, or as a pastor giving a pro-life homily, or a healthcare worker refusing to participate in killing the unborn child. And, of course, you can help by donating to pro-life groups to assist them in the work they do trying to change hearts and minds and laws.

The National March for Life in Ottawa will be held May 7-9. Holding the National March in Ottawa is especially significant in order to bring a powerful message to our politicians in Ottawa and to the public across the nation.

We encourage everyone who is pro-life to attend this event and coordinate your efforts to make a truly meaningful statement of your pro-life convictions and commitment. Your presence will be a witness to your commitment to defend the lives of unborn children and will serve as a strong reminder to our nation of the need to protect these children by law. United, we can stand together strongly on this very important life-and-death issue.

It will be a great event with Fr. Frank Pavone and Janet Morana of Priests for Life (US), and Dr. Alveda King (niece of Dr. Martin Luther King), to celebrate Life: The First Human Right, and draw attention to the 39th anniversary of the legalization of abortion in Canada. The three-day event begins with the moving Candlelight Vigil at the Human Rights Memorial on the Wednesday evening following a Mass celebrated by Kingston Archbishop Brendan O’Brien.

The following day there are Masses and prayer services in the morning, including one at Notre Dame Basilica celebrated by Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, followed by the rally on the Hill at noon, the March for Life through Ottawa streets and the Silent No More Awareness presentation before and after the March. The Rose Dinner will be held that evening – always a wonderful time to socialize with fellow pro-lifers in a more formal setting. We remind you to order your tickets now – last year, 1000 tickets were sold out by April. On May 9th, there is a youth conference with a wide variety of speakers to address political and cultural issues relating to abortion.

Last year, the 10th anniversary National March for Life was the biggest ever – and the media is being compelled to pay attention. We expect this year’s event to be even bigger and better, and we hope that politicians, the press and the public take heed. This peaceful witness sends a powerful message to Canadians across the country that the abortion issue is not going to go away.

Please join us in May for this very important annual event and let other Canadians know that the plight of the unborn cannot be ignored. Know that you all make a difference in our society and its perception of the dignity of unborn children.

If you can’t join us, please consider financially helping those in your church and community who are planning to attend. Also, some Provincial pro-life groups (other than in Ontario) hold their own mini March for Life events for those unable to make it to Ottawa and you might want to consider being part of these important and growing local pro-life witnesses. Let’s all stand together for life on May 8th and, if you are coming to Ottawa, join us for the numerous enjoyable and uplifting events that are being held.

As we noted last month, the specifics are not yet available, but the National Pro-Life Conference, hosted by Campaign Life Coalition Toronto and co-sponsored by Life Canada, Campaign Life Coalition, Canada, and Niagara Region Right to Life, will be held in Toronto, October 2-4 this year. We are in the process of inviting speakers so the agenda has yet to be finalized, but you can still mark your calendar and plan to join us for what will be an important, educational and inspiring conference.

Meet old acquaintances and make new friends when hundreds of Canadian pro-lifers make the trek to the Marriot Airport Toronto Hotel in Mississauga, Ontario. Who knows, you might see some of the people you met at the National March for Life in Ottawa. Schools and pro-life youth groups should consider joining us for all or part of the conference; we will be offering discounted rates for students.

It is hard to believe that The Interim has been publishing for a quarter century. On Feb. 7th, its editorial staff invited 20 pro-life individuals to look at the paper – what it does well, what it can do better, where it is headed. We are hopeful that it will build on its strengths as it tackles new challenges and opportunities, and that it will continue to be an important voice in the pro-life debates of the next 25 years.

If you don’t subscribe to The Interim, please do. It is just $40 a year for a 12-month subscription and it will also be an investment in the future as the paper prepares to re-launch both its print and online versions to better serve the pro-life community and reach more people to present the pro-life message. To subscribe or to purchase a gift subscription, contact Dan Di Rocco at (416) 204-1687 or email dirocco@lifesite.net.

To mark its silver anniversary, the paper is celebrating with a 25th anniversary dinner on April 10th at Spirale’s in Toronto. Tickets are just $75 each. If you can’t make it, please consider a donation to help defray the cost for students and Interim volunteers. To order tickets, please call Margaret at (416) 204-1687 or 1-800-730-5358.

Yours for life and family
Jim Hughes
CLC National President