In a statement issued last month, the Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) declared its opposition “to the evident statutory and institutional bias that exists in Ontario against the free-expression rights of pro-life campaigners.” We are grateful for their clear-eyed recognition that the institutions which ought to have protected our Charter rights have failed us so flagrantly.
The violation of the rights of pro-lifers that is all-too-common occurrence on university campuses in Ontario has given cause to maligned groups to seek legal redress. Their suits, however, have only allowed the courts in this province to display a similar bias against pro-lifers. We are troubled and dismayed by both of these derelictions, yet we find some comfort in the OCLA’s willingness to speak up on our behalves. We are similarly encouraged by the fact that the OCLA noted the explicit and entirely unjustified suppression of statistics about abortion under Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
We hope that the OCLA does, indeed, raise concerns about the “palpable institutional bias against pro-life advocates in Ontario,” which, they note, is “harmful to society and substantively unjust towards members of the community.” And we hope that, as they do, the public will take note. Most of all, we hope that, having noted such systemic suppressions, the OCLA will realize how much we rely on them and similar concerned watch-dog groups to plead our cause in arenas where our voices have not – and now cannot – be heard.
