This spring, Campaign Life Coalition launch a petition campaign in anticipation of the National March for Life. Calling for legal protection for all human life, the petitions containing more than 10,000 names were presented to the House of Commons by pro-life MPs in the week before the march.
The petition read: “The petitioners therefore call upon Parliament to pass legislation for the protection of human life from the time of conception until natural death.” CLC national organizer Mary Ellen Douglas told The Interim she encouraged people to continue collecting names and forwarding them to CLC.
She also said pro-lifers should “congratulate your MP if he or she has stood in the House to defend life.” As of press time, MPs submitting petitions on the floor of the House of Commons included Gurbax Malhi (Lib., Bramalea-Gore-Malton), Colin Mayes (Cons., Okanagan-Shuswap), David Sweet (Cons., Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale), Paul Szabo (Lib, Mississauga South) and Stephen Woodworth (Cons., Kitchener Centre).
On May 11, Szabo stood up in the House and, while presenting the petition, said: “On the week in which the March for Life will take place on Parliament Hill, the petitioners would like to point out that Canada is a country which respects human rights and includes in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that everyone has the right to life. Also, it has been 40 years since May 14, 1969 when Parliament changed the law to permit abortion and, since January 28, 1988, Canada has no law to protect the lives of unborn children.”
