Press Room

Canada’s national pro-life organization, Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), strongly contests the claim by the executive of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) that the organization does not target people who are pro-life.

“Our organization and the work we do in defending the sanctity of life have been the target of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network on multiple occasions,” said Jeff Gunnarson, National President of Campaign Life Coalition.

On Sept. 24, 2025, Conservative Member of Parliament Rachael Thomas (Lethbridge, Alberta) told the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage that the Canadian Anti-Hate Network targets pro-life advocates.

“They’ve [CAHN] been funded by your department to the tune of almost $1 million and a portion of this money was used to hire what they’re calling an ‘investigative journalist’…to find stories about what they’re calling ‘far right’ groups and individuals. And, part of their definition of those that fall within this group includes Catholics and people who identify as pro-life,” she told Liberal MP Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture.

Thomas pressed Guilbeault about whether CAHN should continue to be funded. “Something like this only serves to divide people. It’s a grave disservice to the unity of our country and the well-being of our people and it spurs further polarization,” she said.

Two days later, CAHN’s executive director, Evan Balgord, appeared on a podcast and claimed that it’s “not true” that the organization he directs targets pro-life advocates. “So they're the ones [Blacklock’s Reporter] who recently reported that we target Catholics and people who are pro-life, which again, as I have just described, is not true,” he said on the podcast that streamed Sept. 26, 2025.

CAHN’s own publications and actions indicate otherwise.

In its 2024 booklet “40 Ways to Fight the Far-Right”—which Balgord referred to in the podcast as his organization’s “flagship” publication—the Canadian Anti-Hate Network directs readers to “organize counter-demonstrations” against “far-right” events, and lists the “annual anti-abortion ‘March for Life’ on Parliament Hill” as an “example.”

Georges Buscemi, president of the Quebec pro-life group Campagne Québec-Vie, described how his March for Life on May 31 of this year was disrupted by counter-demonstrators.

“They infiltrated our March for Life by pretending to be pro-life,” he related. “By means of some secret signal, they began deploying bullhorns and whistles. They set off smoke bombs. The noise drowned out our speakers and the smoke disturbed attendees. Present were families with young children and some who were elderly. People were coughing because of the smoke, their eyes stinging. We were worried about what they would do next.”

Balgord, in a 2017 article in Toronto Now co-authored with Steven Zhou, detailed how counter-demonstrations can involve “physical disruption of public rallies” of groups deemed “far right.” In an earlier edition of the 40 Ways booklet, CAHN had listed Campaign Life Coalition by name as “far-right”—a designation the organization later removed after legal intervention.

“The March for Life, our annual signature event, is the largest and most peaceful event you will ever see on Parliament Hill,” said Gunnarson. “It is attended by hundreds of families with children—some in strollers—and the elderly in walkers and wheelchairs, and also by countless young people inspired to defend life. People of all ethnic and faith backgrounds attend, as well as members of different political parties. It’s truly a diverse crowd united by a common belief: that violence is never the answer and that our government should protect the right to life for every human being, ensuring the best outcomes for both mother and child.”

“The Canadian Anti-Hate Network citing the March for Life as an example of counter-demonstration risks sending a signal to hostile groups and radicalized individuals that this event is a legitimate target. In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, it is reckless and dangerous for a government-funded organization to encourage followers to ‘disrupt’ peaceful events and ‘fight’ those who attend them, effectively putting targets on pro-lifers’ backs,” he added.

Last March, CAHN published a smear piece targeting one of CLC’s invited speakers at a pro-life youth conference. CAHN listed the venue hosting the event in its report. As a result, the venue faced a wave of pressure and demands to cancel the conference after having hosted it for 18 years without controversy.

Finally, in July 2021, CAHN published an article attacking the free expression of pro-life advocates, calling their use of photographs of abortion victims in the public square a “form of hate speech.”

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