CLC Blog

In most locations, Life Chain will take place on Sunday, October 5—just under 3 months away.

2025 marks the 35th year of this pro-life witness in Canada.  

It was started in 1987 in Yuba City, California, by a small pro-life group called Please Let Me Live.  

Campaign Life Coalition brought the event to Canada in 1991, although it was preceded by a test run of “Project Life” in Toronto in 1990.  

From The B.C. Catholic Supplement: Participants in the May 12, 1991 Life Chain in Vancouver 

The first Canadian city to reportedly hold a Life Chain was Brantford, ON, in April of 1991. A number of cities out west followed suit the weekend of Mother’s Day, including Vancouver, which drew 10,000 participants alone. Dozens more cities held Life Chains in June.  

In October (which would soon become the standard time of year for the event), 60 communities from all ten provinces took up this project simultaneously. In solidarity with hundreds of thousands of Americans, over 70,000 Canadians, including 15,000+ in Vancouver, publicly witnessed to the sanctity of life.  

A lot of these early Life Chains took the shape of crosses; participants would stand for kilometres along two intersecting streets.  

From the beginning, the staple sign held quietly by demonstrators proclaimed: “Abortion kills children.” 

From The Interim: October 6, 1991 – the first truly cross-continental Life Chain 

While it’s impossible to calculate total participation over the years, we can confidently say that well over a million have taken part in North America.  

Here in Canada, Life Chain has stretched into the far corners and small pockets of this land—including Labrador and the Northwest Territories last year. In 2024, over 350 communities participated from coast to coast!  

Different forms of pro-life activism have emerged over the years, each possessing unique advantages that grant them staying power.   

40 Days for Life offers a sustained pro-life presence outside of the “killing places”—a persistent witness.  

“Choice” Chains or “Show the Truth” with abortion victim photography require much prudence and tact in how they’re conducted but are most effective in changing minds.  

The National March for Life provides an opportunity for the whole pro-life movement to gather together in one place to lobby our legislators and to be rejuvenated ourselves.  

And Life Chain, in which pro-lifers disperse back into their local communities to share the pro-life message with their neighbours, is unparalleled in its reach. 

From The Interim: The 1992 Life Chain boasted over a million participants across the US & Canada, including 5000 in Toronto

Many pro-lifers are first introduced to the movement through Life Chain. As a child, it was the first time I ever did anything pro-life. Who knows how many other people can also trace their involvement with this cause back to this family-friendly event? 

As various Campaign Life Coalition summer interns work on the 2025 Life Chain, I tell them that, in itself, Life Chain is not going to end abortion in Canada.

Our pro-life efforts need to span 365 days, not one day per year…BUT, a hamlet/village/town/city WITH a Life Chain is far better than one without a Life Chain. At least once annually, that community is encountering the pro-life message—and that matters, for a whole host of reasons.  

From CLC National News: The October 2004 Life Chain, described as "hugely successful"

So, if you’ve already been involved with Life Chain for a while—whether a handful of years or the full 35—thank you. Thank you for your perseverance, faithfulness, and devotion to the pre-born.  

If there isn’t a Life Chain in your community, I’d like to invite you to consider organizing one. Here’s a map of last year’s Life Chain locations. (The 2025 locations will be posted next month.) If there isn’t one in your immediate area, please email [email protected] to find out how to get one started! We are happy to provide support—promotional materials, signs, guidelines, etc.  

We are also making a concerted effort this year to recruit more church contacts!

If you email us at [email protected], we will mail you copies of the Life Chain poster and church package for you to pass along to your pastor or church administration, OR we’ll put you in touch with your local Life Chain organizer so they can provide you with their own promotional material.

Volunteering as a church contact is the best way to ensure your church community participates in this pro-life event.  

You can also just visit campaignlifecoalition.com/life-chain and scroll down to “How can I Promote Life Chain?” for a list of downloadable resources you are most welcome to use!  

Please ask your church to put Life Chain in the church calendar now, to ensure no conflicts come October.

You can pass along the Save the Date poster (Letter-Size English | 11x17 English | Letter-Size French | 11x17 French) and church package (English | French).  

From CLC National News: Life Chain a decade ago – October 3, 2015 

Maybe there’s a temptation to view Life Chain’s 35-year legacy in Canada with pessimism, proof of futility rather than faithfulness.  

Maybe there’s a temptation to just “check out”—to say that nothing ever changes, especially in Canada with the billionth successive pro-abortion government, and just to get absorbed in summer pastimes. 

Please do Life Chain. Commit, in some way—big or small—to contributing to its success this year.  

Clockwise from top left: October 6, 2024 Life Chain in Camrose, AB; Assiniboia, SK; Grand Falls, NB 

Maybe others will roll over in the face of an ever-consuming Culture of Death, but we will not.  

We will provide a counter-witness: The Christian way is different. The Christian way affirms the sanctity of life. The Christian way is hope. 

I am grateful for the approaching 35 years of Life Chain in Canada and that even as some pro-lifers have passed on to their eternal reward, new leaders have stepped up, willing to fight for our nation.  

In Genesis 18, the Lord promises Abraham that even if only ten righteous people are found in Sodom, He will not destroy it.  

Let us be modern-day prophets in the Sodom and Gomorrahs, the Ninevehs, and the Babylons that we find ourselves living in.  

May our Lord find His ten (or more!) in each.