Calls for politicians to end the killing of the preborn
Interim Staff:
On May 8, pro-life Canadians assembled in the nation’s capital for the 29th annual National March for Life, the highlight of a week of pro-life events in Ottawa organized by Campaign Life Coalition.
This year’s them was “Protection at Conception,” calling for legal recognition and protection of human life from the moment of fertilization. CLC director of education and advocacy Josie Luetke explained the theme was inspired by Matthew 13: 31-32 (“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, yet when full-grown, it is the largest of plants.”) Luetke also noted that a 2021 survey of more than 5000 biologists found that 96 per cent of them acknowledged that life begins at conception.
Before the throng marched through the streets of Ottawa, there were numerous pro-life, religious, and political leaders who addressed the rally on Parliament Hill.
Opening the rally, Debbie Duval, CLC’s national capital organizer, thanked everyone for coming and standing up for the preborn. “No action is too small when it is done in faith,” she said. “Together, we can make a difference! Thank you for your courage… for protecting life at conception.”
CLC national president Jeff Gunnarson told the crowd, “We didn’t come here to jostle for power … We came to raise our voices for those who have none.” Alluding to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s campaign promise to defend Canadian sovereignty with his “elbows up,” Gunnarson said, “While some are throwing elbows to climb the political ladder, we are standing for the child in the womb who has no legal protection in Canada.”
CLC vice president Matthew Wojciechowski said, “I wish we didn’t have to be here, I wish we didn’t have to march for life every year, but life is not protected in this building next to us,” pointing to the Parliament buildings. “That is why we march, we are here today because this is the place where laws are created, policies are made, and people were elected to serve.” Wojciechowski said, “everyone in that building has a duty to legally protect children in the womb.” He said it was the shame of every political leader and politicians who “calls this killing a choice.”
Fr. Calvin Robinson, a pro-life leader from the United Kingdom, said, “It’s an absolute blessing to see good works, like the March for Life, like you good people coming out here today to show your support, to march around this capital in front of the godless politicians, to let them know that God is the one who decides when we live and when we die.”
Christian Heritage Party leader Rod Taylor thanked pro-lifers for their courage and persistence. The non-prolife majority, Taylor argued, “have said the giants are too big, abortion is too entrenched, the media is too powerful. But you came here to challenge the giants. You came here to change majority opinion and to confront the media narrative.” Taylor acknowledged the pro-life MPs as “agents of change” and encouraged them to “stand firm.” Taylor said, “Don’t let the forces of darkness deter you from your purpose. Don’t allow political correctness or party discipline or the fear of public opinion to diminish your resolve. The change we need in Canada will require your ongoing sacrifice.”
Daniel Duchesne, supreme director of the Knights of Columbus, said: “Today, we stand together… to strongly affirm the fundamental truth, life begins at conception and deserves to be protected to the natural end.”
Ottawa Archbishop Marcel Damphousse told the crowd that white smoke had been seen in Rome and that a new pope had been selected just as the March was beginning. At the time, the identity of the pope was not known but Archbishop Damphousse asked for prayers for the new pontiff. Wojciechowski, who served as the master of ceremonies, later announced: “For all the Catholics here, I can confirm there is a new Pope,” he said to cheers: “Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, Leo XIV!”
Emily Stimpson Chapman, keynote speaker at the Rose Dinner later that evening, praised women who embraced motherhood in difficult circumstances. She said of the women who gave birth to her adopted children, “I am also so grateful that their mothers, (who) made the courageous and most loving choice they could when they realized they couldn’t parent and entrusted them to me and to my husband.” Stimpson Chapman said, “I am marching for them, for these ‘silent heroes’ of the pro-life movement, the birth mothers who make the hardest choice a mother can make.”
Michelle Lowe of Silent No More Awareness shared her story of having nine abortions, the “demonic cycle” that included promiscuity, substance abuse, and suicide attempts. She told her story and how she found healing in Jeus Christ: “I finally saw hope and light after so many years of darkness. I was forgiven and I have children waiting for me in heaven.” She said, “Every baby deserves protection at conception.”
Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, made clear that Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) is a euphemism: “Euthanasia is about killing people. That’s what it’s about—people in a difficult time of their life. They say it’s about ‘freedom,’ they say it is about ‘choice,’ they say it about ‘autonomy,’ but that’s a lie, a lie and a lie. This is about killing people. It’s about abandoning them. It’s a about deaths of despair.”
Angelina Ireland, president of the Delta Hospice Society, warned that there is no place to be safe from the euthanasia regime. “We’re allowed to have no-kill animal shelters, but we’re not allowed to have no-kill human shelters,” she said, while noting that health care facilities are being forced to provide euthanasia. “We demand to be safe in our health care facilities!”
Closing the rally and sending the participants out into the streets, Ruth Robert, CLC’s Atlantic region coordinator, exclaimed, “We’re going to go out there and we are going to march for life. So, I send you off in the words of Jesus: ‘Go forth and make disciples’.”
Upon returning from the march, participants heard testimonies from members of Silent No More Awareness, women who regret their abortions and who share their stories of renewed hope. The event concluded with a prayer service led by the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute.
The day before the National March for Life there was a candlelight vigil at the Human Rights Monument in Ottawa. In the evening of the March, there was the Rose Dinner and Youth banquet, and the following day there was a Youth Banquet and the first-ever Pro-Life Leaders Summit.
