A British Columbia man is challenging the province’s “bubble-zone” law, arguing that all life, including the baby in womb, must be accorded human rights as spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 11 other international law documents.
Jim Demers of Nelson, B.C. was before the B.C. Supreme Court Jan. 12-14, arguing that from conception, children in the womb are included in the words “everyone” and “every individual” under Sections 3 and 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Demers, a 41-year-old father of five, told The Interimthat the crux of the issue is whether being a human being is separable from the legal definition of personhood, whereby governments recognize people’s rights.
Demers’s lawyers, Paul Formby and Jeff Tuomala (the latter an expert on international law), argued that international law includes agreements signed by Canada that require Canada to recognize the biological truth that life begins at conception. They also argued that this truth cannot be overridden by the government, and that the unborn child deserves legal protection.
Demers said if government can take away the rights of any class of people such as the unborn, it can take away the rights of any other group arbitrarily.
According to LifeSite News, Formby explained that “while the case revolved around the bubble-zone law, arguments being put forward were forcing the ruling to decide on the constitutionality of denying the unborn child Charter rights.”
Demers was arrested in December 1996 for carrying a sign outside a Vancouver abortuary that included wording from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In December 1997, a provincial court found him guilty of violating the so-called bubble-zone law by protesting within 50 metres of an abortuary.
In 1995, Mike Harcourt’s NDP government passed Bill 48 (the B.C. Access to Abortion Services Act) that makes peaceful prayer, protest, or counselling illegal within 150 metres of an abortionist’s home, or within 50 metres of an abortuary.
On Jan. 22 of this year, Supreme Court Justice Raissa Levine stunned observers by excusing herself from an appeal of the case. Both Formby and the prosecution were expected to sum up their cases when Justice Levine entered the courtroom and said, “I cannot continue on this case.”
Supreme Court officer Lloyd McKenzie said, “My understanding (is) that she felt she could not bring the degree of detachment to this case that is required of her as a judge … She obviously felt that something happened that disqualified her.”
The announcement has infuriated some pro-lifers. CLC British Columbia president John Hof told The Interim he thinks “the judge was moved by Jim’s argument because of the facts he presented, but that they went against her personal beliefs.”
Demers will return to court May 4-7 and has requested a meeting with the new judge to ensure this doesn’t happen again. He said re-arguing the case will cost about $20,000.
With files from John Henry Westen.
