- November 1997

Dear pro-lifer,

Looking over the events of the last few months, I'm more convinced than ever that we're at a crossroads in this country. Suicide champion Jack Kevorkian has racked up another Canadian victim; the gay lobby has won another victory in the courts; and those few brave souls who have the courage to speak out against the culture of death are facing renewed persecution. I'm also becoming more and more convinced, however, that those same brave souls are our hope for the future. Read on!

FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE, OR FREEDOM FROM CONSCIENCE?

Canadians stand up for conscience rights in health care

Abortion advocates are always talking about the "right to choose"; but it's clear they don't extend that freedom to those who choose not to take part in baby-killing. For years now, we've been getting reports from across Canada about nurses being coerced to assist with abortions, and other health-care workers being forced to act against their consciences in other ways. Such pressure has led to the demotion or firing of many health-care workers, and has caused others to quit their jobs.

Canada is one of the few Western countries without a "conscience clause" to guard against such injustices; but that may be about to change. A movement to protect the conscience rights of health-care workers is gaining momentum across the country, especially in Ontario, where a "Coalition for Conscience" has formed to lobby the provincial government. Composed of health-care workers from a variety of disciplines, experts in medicine, law, and ethics, and ordinary citizens, the coalition has recently proposed a "conscience-clause" bill, which we hope will be introduced in the legislature as a private member's bill in the near future.

ACTION ITEM: Contact your provincial representative, and request the government protect the conscience rights of health-care workers. If you are a health-care worker, contact your professional associations as well. Call us, at (416) 368-8479, for addresses, and phone and fax numbers. It is especially important that Ontario supporters take action at this time.

New Calgary "bubble-zone" restrictions show power of prayer

Clearly, many Canadians want the freedom to exercise their consciences, according to what is right. It's just as clear, however, that a few Canadians will do whatever it takes to subdue their consciences, and anyone who dares to try to awaken them.

In 1993, Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Blair Mason granted an injunction placing severe restrictions on freedom of speech and freedom of assembly outside the Kensington abortuary in Calgary. Pro-life witnessing continued, however, with a group of dedicated pro-lifers gathering regularly outside the "bubble-zone" to pray the Rosary.

It seems, however, that even this most peaceful pro-life activity--which is carried on in a playground down the block, on the other side of the street--is too much for the abortuary staff. They've successfully petitioned Mr Justice Mason for new restrictions, forcing the pro-lifers to the back of the playground, and limiting the number who may gather at any one time.

The pro-lifers in question are planning to challenge to draconian injunction itself. Regardless of the outcome, however, the case has shown once again the overwhelming power and crucial importance of prayer in the struggle for life. The frantic paranoia of the Kensington abortuary staff is a dramatic illustration how a handful of ordinary people can move the consciences of the powers-that-be, even in the face of hostile media and biased officials, simply by relying on God. "He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree (Lk 1:52)."

EUTHANASIA CASES BRING OUT BEST AND WORST IN CANADIANS

Svend Robinson exploits latest Canadian Kevorkian victim

Just as many Canadians are finally choosing between a good conscience and a bad conscience, it seems they're finally taking sides on euthanasia, too.

On the weekend of September 19, Natverlal Thakore committed suicide with the help of infamous US euthanasia champion Jack Kevorkian. Thakore, a 78-year-old businessman from Burnaby, BC, was suffering from Parkinson's disease, according to Kevorkian's lawyer.

True to form, MP Svend Robinson (NDP, Burnaby-Douglas) seized the opportunity to push once more for doctor-assisted suicide in Canada. The country's first openly gay parliamentarian appeared to be following the suggestion of Manitoba's Liberal Senator Sharon Carstairs, another prominent euthanasia advocate. Last summer, Sen. Carstairs suggested that Canadians need another Sue Rodriguez, to push them into legalizing doctor-assisted suicide. (Ms Rodriguez, you'll recall, was the BC woman who killed herself in 1994, after unsuccessfully petitioning the Supreme Court of Canada for the "right to die" with the help of a physician.)

Fortunately, many British Columbians have raised their voices against both euthanasia, and the exploitation of Mr Thakore's death. A poll commissioned by the BC Euthanasia Prevention Coalition found that 71% of British Columbians favour caring over killing, and that 81% want the government to guarantee proper pain control and care for the dying. In an editorial on September 24, The Province (Vancouver) denounced Kevorkian and Robinson, and warned of the dangers of legalizing euthanasia.

Tracy Latimer to be remembered in cross-country vigils

It's not just in BC that people seem to be awakening to the dangers of legalizing euthanasia. "The Friends of Tracy Latimer Coalition" held the first of a cross-country series of vigils for Saskatchewan euthanasia victim Tracy Latimer at Nathan Philipps Square in Toronto, October 23. Tracy Latimer, you'll recall, was the 12-year-old living with cerebral palsy, whose father Robert killed her by carbon-monoxide poisoning in 1993. Robert Latimer confessed to the killing, claiming it was motivated by "mercy."

Leaders of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) are key organizers of the vigils. The CCD, which has intervenor status in Robert Latimer's trial, has recognized the implications of allowing Tracy's disability to be considered a mitigating factor in the case. The CCD argues that if Robert Latimer is charged with anything less than first-degree murder, or if he is given a light sentence, the court will be saying that the lives of Canadians with disabilities are of less value than the lives of other Canadians--and that will leave people with disabilities vulnerable to euthanasia-minded family members or health-care workers.

ANTI-FAMILY FORCES MARCHING ON, BUT MEETING RESISTANCE

Gays win one court challenge; Evangelicals intervene on another

Another potential watershed: two new gay "spousal" benefits cases in Ontario courts have grave implications for the treatment of marriage and family in Canada.

Both cases revolve on a challenge to laws defining "spouses" as persons of the opposite sex. In a decision handed down October 1 in Kane v. Axa Insurance, Justice Douglas Coo ruled Ontario's Insurance Act violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; and a similar challenge to the federal Income Tax Act is currently before the Ontario Court of Appeal.

Pro-gay decisions in these cases could require changes in hundreds of laws, and result in an across-the-board re-definition of "spouse." It would be a short step from there to re-defining marriage so that it is virtually meaningless--which is really what the gay lobby is after in the end.

We're glad to report, however, that even if they reach their ultimate goal, it won't be without a fight. The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, which obtained intervenor status in the Rosenberg case, has argued that the traditional definition of "spouse" should be maintained. The EFC said that heterosexual couples play a "unique and essential role...in the very fabric of our society through procreation, nurturing and raising children."

Parental authority the real target of anti-spanking lobby

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, by the way, has also spoken up against repealing section 43 of the Criminal Code, which allows parents to use reasonable force in disciplining their children. A Toronto advocacy group has announced it will challenge section 43 in court, based on--you guessed it!--the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The group claims spanking children is nothing less than child abuse.

EFC President Gary Walsh said recently that while "every responsible Canadian opposes child abuse.... the issue here is the intrusion of the state into the domain of parental responsibility." He argued that "by criminalizing [corporal punishment], society would be saying that parents cannot be trusted to raise their children."

It's important to understand that the anti-spanking movement draws heavily on the ideology behind the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, a truly hair-raising document. In an eye-opening article in the April 29, 1996 issue of Citizen, a publication of Focus on the Family, Cindy Silver and Dallas Miller point out that the authors of the Convention see children as individual rights-bearers, abstracted from their families, with the State as their ultimate guardian.

Even though Canada hasn't actually ratified the Convention (three cheers for Alberta, the only holdout!), the UN committee overseeing its implementation has decreed that we must abolish corporal punishment in order to comply with its terms. Fortunately, the UN doesn't yet have the machinery actually to enforce such a judgment; unfortunately, however, they don't even need to overcome the sovereignty of individual nations to get their way. With like-minded friends in high places in countries like Canada, they can achieve their goals by other means.

The bright side of all this is that it seems the family has a few friends in high places, too. On September 26, Saskatchewan MP Garry Breitkreuz (Reform, Yorkton-Melville) re-introduced his parental rights and responsibilities motion, now called M-33. During Question Period in the House of Commons that day, Mr Breitkreuz defended the right of parents to decide how to discipline their children, and denounced attempts to use the Convention on the Rights of the Child against parental authority.

Outstanding Reform MP Sharon Hayes resigns

As I've said many times before, the Reform Party actually has a remarkable number of pro-family MPs. Perhaps the most outstanding among them was Sharon Hayes, (Port Moody-Coquitlam, BC), who, I'm sad to report, chose to resign October 1. True to her record of unselfish devotion to the family, in the end it was concern for her own family's needs--specifically, her husband's ill health--which led her to resign.

Sharon achieved many things during her four years in Parliament. As a member of Canada's delegation to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, she spoke out strongly against the elitist, anti-family bias which pervaded both the conference and Canada's delegation. As chair of the Reform Party's Family Task Force, she shaped the party's family policy, which includes ending tax-discrimination against single-income families with stay-at-home moms, and maintaining the traditional definition of marriage and family.

For these and so many other things, we all owe Sharon Hayes a great debt. When other politicians needed an example of integrity and courage, and when ordinary Canadians needed a voice of decency and common sense in the House of Commons, she was there. She also did an enormous amount to raise the spirits of those of us in the pro-family trenches. God bless you and your family, Sharon.

Pro-life, pro-family opportunity in Ontario municipal elections

While they might not enjoy the high profile of someone like Sharon Hayes, pro-life and pro-family political leaders can also do a lot of good on the municipal level. Don't forget that municipal politicians oversee crucial things like public health (often the chief source of "safe-sex" propaganda), and school boards. (Even though authority over education is about to be centralized in the hands of the provincial government, school board trustees should not be written off.)

London, Ontario provides a dramatic example of just how important it is that we elect good people to municipal office. London's mayor, Dianne Haskett, a devout Evangelical, refused to proclaim a "Gay Pride Day" for the city, and in so doing showed that pro-family Christians have a place in public life, that we really can stand up to the forces of political correctness. She was hauled before the Ontario Human Rights Commission for acting according to her conscience; yet even though the kangaroo court predictably ruled against her, she has held firm.

ACTION ITEM FOR ONTARIO SUPPORTERS: Find out where your candidates for school board and municipal office stand on life and family issues, go to the polls November 10, and vote accordingly!

PRO-LIFERS SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER

Life Chain, Show the Truth, resounding successes

If we've held firm to our principles as pro-lifers, I'm convinced it's partly because of the witness of those who've taken the pro-life message to the streets.

Held on October 5 this year, Life Chain was once again a great success. Without saying a word, thousands upon thousands of Canadians proclaimed a simple message, loud and clear-- Abortion Kills Children--and hundreds of thousands of their fellow Canadians heard it. The importance of this most basic kind of activism in changing hearts and building a culture of life cannot be overstated. Life Chain doesn't need to change from year to year to be effective. In fact, it's simplicity and consistency is its strength.

The "Show the Truth" Tour stopped in Ottawa on September 22, for the opening of Parliament. They attracted a good crowd of local pro-lifers, who joined them to give returning and new MPs a sobering reminder of the number-one issue facing our country today. They were also joined by Fr Tony Van Hee, S.J., "The Conscience of Parliament Hill," who began his ninth year of pro-life witnessing outside the halls of power. "Show the Truth" participants report their graphic signs, which show the full horror of what abortion does to children, seemed to have the desired effect of shaking passers-by out of their complacency.

Vigil for Linda Gibbons Nov. 9

A vigil will be held for pro-life political prisoner Linda Gibbons, at the Metro West Detention Centre (111 Disco Rd, Toronto) on November 9, from 7 to 8 p.m. As usual, the vigil will be a prayerful event, showing our support for Linda's ministry to mothers and babies outside the Scott abortuary, and our opposition to the government injunction preventing free speech outside Ontario abortion centres. This time, however, we'll also be mourning the killing of a preborn baby whose mother chose abortion in spite of Linda's counsel and help. The mother was a fellow inmate of Linda's at one time. Participants are asked to bring flowers to contribute to a memorial ceremony in the child's honour.

PRO-LIFE ACTION CAN OVERCOME ETHICAL WILDERNESS

Repro techies breeding "master race" in IVF labs

Perhaps nowhere is it more obvious we've reached a moral and cultural crossroads than in the area of reproductive and genetic technologies, largely made possible by in vitro fertilization (IVF).

On September 24, The Globe and Mail carried a feature article praising the work of IVF Canada, a private clinic offering "genetic screening" of embryos. The clinic offers IVF for couples who are actually able to conceive naturally, so their children can be tested for diseases and disabilities before being implanted--in other words, so the undesirable ones can be weeded out.

The head of this "designer-baby" clinic, Dr Perry Philipps, revealed the shocking moral confusion behind such activities when he spoke of his work as a medical breakthrough on a par with the development of antibiotics. Apparently the subtle distinction between eliminating disease and eliminating people with diseases has escaped the good doctor. Dr Philipps calls his work "the dream of medicine"; but in fact it's the nightmare of eugenics, the pseudo-science of creating a "master race, and the precursor of the Nazi concentration camps, and other twentieth-century horrors.

We're way past the slippery slope now, folks: we're in ethical free-fall. That's not to say, however, that there's nothing we can do about it. Lobbying the government to introduce a radically-revised version of Bill C-47 would be a start. Bill C-47, which died when the last federal election was called, would have prohibited some of the worst applications of the new reproductive technologies, including the production of human embryos solely for research purposes. Unfortunately, it was full of gaping holes, due to the government's failure to identify the source of the various problems the bill was supposed to address: IVF itself. When will we learn that God is God, and that we are not?

UN pushes for huge new BC park, ignores genocide in Rwanda

Maybe some people forget they're not God because they've gotten used to wielding power unchecked.

Certainly that explains the arrogance of the UN's unelected and unaccountable New-Age bureaucrats. They decree that 12% of a country's land must be set aside as wilderness, for example, and--presto!--it's done. On October 9, BC's NDP Premier Glen Clark announced that an area larger than Switzerland, a huge 4.4-million-hectare chunk of the province, is now a "protected area."

If they want to play God, however, the UN elites have a long way to go in actually caring about people. In an article in the Toronto Star on October 5, Canada's General Roméo Dallaire, who was head of the UN force in Rwanda, talks about how his superiors had ample warning of the genocide committed in that country three years ago, but chose to do nothing to prevent it. General Dallaire says the UN's indifference was caused by racism: he says they only care about the massacre of white people. Others see another nasty motive in tolerating the slaughter: a de-population programme for Africa.

Maurice Strong, Planned Parenthood under fire

Speaking of population control, I'm glad to say that the globalists are finally being held accountable, if only in a very modest way.

On October 19, it was reported that Canadian businessman, New-Age guru, and UN powerbroker Maurice Strong is being sued for fraud and stock manipulation. It's alleged that he and other directors of a US company illegally inflated stock prices, in order to sell at a profit.

Planned Parenthood is also feeling the heat. Canadians are finally noticing that the so-called "charitable organization" is pushing to have their unsavory ideology enshrined in law. In Planned Barrenhood of Toronto's August, 1997 fundraising letter, President Deborah Loosemore asks supporters to "send your tax-deductible donation today," to help PP "advocate for the fundamental right for reproductive choice" and to "maintain a pro-choice mandate in Canada." She also urges supporters to ensure legislators hear a "voice for choice."

As the saying goes, if it looks like a lobby group, and acts like a lobby group... then take away its charitable status! Funny, though, Revenue Canada seems not to notice such things about Banned Parenthood; but then, they do have their plate full, considering the amount of time they spend harassing genuinely charitable pro-life organizations.

ACTION ITEM: Contact Mr Rob Wright, Deputy Minister of National Revenue, and let him know that Planned Parenthood is engaging in political activity outside its mandate as a "charitable organization." Mr Wright's address is 11th floor, MacDonald Building/123 Slater St./Ottawa, ON K1A 0L5 (postage IS required); his phone number is (613) 957-3688; and his fax number is (613) 952-1547.

CLC FUNDRAISING EFFORTS IN FULL SWING

Christmas cakes, poinsettias, pro-life cheques, and a new CLC Canada initiative

Speaking of donations, don't forget that, in addition to direct financial support, there are many indirect ways to support CLC Canada's baby-saving work.

Once again, we're offering our delicious Christmas cakes, made by the Trappist monks of Hockley Hills, Ontario. This year, the cakes will come in a beautiful new tin, decorated with a traditional winter scene. Inquire at your church or local pro-life organization, or call us at (416) 368-8479, to order yours today (Canada only), or to help sell them in your neighbourhood.

Because the initial campaign last year was so promising, we're offering poinsettias once again in th eToronto area. These lovely, high-quality plants will brighten up your home or church all through the holiday season. Please call us at the above number for more information, or to order.

Of course, we're also still offering our new pro-life cheques, personal cheques showing the face of a happy child, and reading, "Protect the Unborn." This project is intended to help our supporters to spread the pro-life word in a simple and positive way. It's been estimated that up to 15 people see any one cheque as it's being processed. Think of the thousands of people you could reach with the truth about abortion, with only one order of our pro-life cheques!

We've also launched a new project this month: Yesterdays Treasures, a used clothing store at Knob Hill Farms, at Lansdowne and Dundas in Toronto. Call us if you can contribute to this new service/fundraiser by donating clothing or working in the store.

Thank you for your support of our all-important work, through financial donations, pro-life activism, and, most of all, through prayer. We remember you all each day as we gather to pray together in our main office here at 53 Dundas, because you're precious to God, and precious to us. God bless you.