Angelica Vecchiato:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s appearance at a local Hamilton, Ont., restaurant during the Liberal cabinet retreat in the city, was met with protest by pro-life activists.
Around a dozen young people– members of Campaign Life Coalition and Campaign Life Coalition Youth, Hamilton Against Abortion, Oxford Against Abortion, Niagara Against Abortion and Peel Against Abortion– held photos of abortion victims as the Prime Minister and members of his liberal cabinet made their way to a restaurant on the evening of Jan. 24.
CLC’s director of education and advocacy, Josie Luetke, asked the Liberal politicians if they believed in equal rights for all human beings. Trudeau was the only one who responded, stating that “I believe in a woman’s right to choose” and “I will stand up for women’s rights every day.”
As the prime minister and his colleagues walked into the restaurant, one protestor shouted, “this slaughter is happening under your watch, but enjoy your dinner.”
Luetke told The Interim that while she doubts that Trudeau or his cabinet was moved by the pro-life witness, at least now they cannot “claim ignorance” about abortion.
“They cannot say they did not know,” Luetke explained. “I imagine when they sat down for dinner, and glanced at the windows that had been covered up due to our activism, they might have discussed our signs. They probably at least thought about the images. How they choose to respond is on them, but we did our part.”
Luetke said that the protestors wanted to “hold Justin Trudeau accountable” so that he might be confronted “with the brutalized bodies of the preborn children he refuses to acknowledge.”
The pro-lifers are optimistic that their presence will serve to foster greater awareness about abortion and incite tangible political action. “Our presence will, we hope, prick their consciences, which could cause a ripple politically. More importantly, our protest is a matter of principle: we owe it to the preborn to publicly call for justice on their behalf, to refuse to allow what’s happened to them to be hidden,” said Luetke.
