CLC Blog

On October 4, in front of Saint-Charles-Garnier Church in Quebec City, 150 to 200 counter-protesters surrounded about a dozen silent Life Chain participants, tore their signs from their hands, and blocked Laurier Boulevard until police arrived.

Three days earlier, the pro-abortion group Collectif Riposte Féministe announced on Facebook that it would target the event. “Bring your anger, your signs and everything you need to make as much noise as possible!!” the post read. “Let’s show that Quebec City is and will remain PRO-CHOICE!”

In front of Saint-Charles-Garnier, the counter-protesters were already in place when participants arrived, with music blaring and feminist slogans written on the sidewalk, according to a witness. One of them, dressed as a nun, carried a sign showing a uterus with the words “My body belongs to me and I do what I want with it.”

The Quebec City–Chaudière-Appalaches regional council of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), one of Quebec’s major labour federations, said in a Facebook post that it “answered the call of the feminist collective La riposte” that day. The witness says she saw CSN signs at the scene.

According to one participant, the counter-protesters swarmed the dozen or so Life Chain participants, making them feel like “sheep among wolves.”

Counter-protesters stood in front of the participants so drivers could no longer see the signs, insulted them, and whistled loudly into the ears of an elderly man who wears hearing aids. They blocked traffic on Laurier Boulevard; some cars drove onto the church lawn to get by. Signs were torn from participants’ hands, ripped up, and trampled. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe did not come through intact.

Not far away, at the corner of Laurier and Jean-De Quen, a second Life Chain location reported no disturbances and a strong police presence. It seems the police were unaware of the Life Chain location in front of the church.

One participant had come with her parents. They chose the church site because roadwork limited traffic and parking at the Jean-De Quen corner. They did not know a counter-protest had been announced there.

According to her account, a FEMEN activist began violently ripping signs out of participants’ hands. When she pulled the participant’s sign away, she scratched her face. She then tore the signs up one by one “with a cry of victory, to the crowd’s applause.”

“It was violent and we were defenceless before the crowd,” the participant wrote. Police had to be called twice. About ten minutes later, officers arrived. “In no time at all,” they restored order, cleared the street, and set up a security perimeter. At the end, they escorted the participants to their cars.

An officer noted the marks on the participant’s face and offered her the chance to file an assault complaint. She did not. “I came there to pray, very humbly, to defend the unborn child,” she wrote. She kept praying until the end.

“Our people stood on a sidewalk, in silence, for one hour,” said Georges Buscemi, president of Quebec Life Coalition. “The other side announced in advance that it would bring its anger, and it did. Next year we will be back, and the police will know exactly where each of the two groups will be.”

Read the entire November 2026 edition of CLC National News online here. 

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