For most people information is limited to a local newspaper or what they see or hear on a brief local TV or radio news report. Often they are not aware how limited this information is or how much of the truth is omitted through the sieve of editorial bias. The pro-life movement is especially subject to the latter, including willful distortion, occasionally even to the point of asserting the direct opposite of what has happened.
At the date of writing (September 13), 30 pro-lifers are in jail in Canada as witnesses to the law of Christ in opposition to the opinion of society that women have the right to kill their unborn babies. How did they get there? Where are the others? What’s going on? are these questions many people may want to ask. The following is a brief summary of what has happened so far.
As mentioned on other occasions, but it bears repeating, the movement is called Operation Revue. It acts on the Biblical injunction, “Rescue those unjustly sentenced to death” (Proverbs 24:11). Rescuers attempt to prevent the killing of unborn babies by sitting in large numbers in front of the doors of an abortion centre, thus blocking the entry of employees and clients. The action is entirely non-violent. The participants pray or sing songs and hymns and then go limp when the police remove them from the steps or porches.
There have been Rescues in Vancouver (half-a-dozen); Toronto (12); Edmonton (2); Calgary (2); Montreal (2); Winnipeg (1); and Kitchener (at a Planned Parenthood Abortion referral office).
Number jailed
Participants and supporters at Rescues in Canada since the beginning in October 1988 are as follows: over 1800 have supported the actions by their presence; over 1300 were arrested; held in jail overnight: 145; held in pre-trial arrests: 64; sentenced to jail terms: 63.
Supporters
and Pre-trial
Place Date participants Arrests Released Arrest Sentenced In Jail
Toronto (1) Oct. 18, 1988 50 40 X ___ ___ ___
Vancouver Dec. 15, 1988 90 73 X ___ ___ ___
Toronto (2, 3, 4) Jan 12, 13, 14, 1989 248 200 X ___ ___ ___
Vancouver Jan. 21, 1989 13 13 __ ___ 13 13
Vancouver Feb. 7 150 104 __ 44 104 ___
(102) held (27
overnight) days)
Toronto (5) Feb. 23 200 92 X ___ ___ ___
Calgary Feb. 28 12 12 __ ___ ___ ___
Toronto (6) March 11 130 109 X ___ ___ ___
Vancouver April 13 15 15 __ ___ 15 [25]*
Winnipeg April 22 70(?) 44 __ ___ acquitted ___
Toronto May 5 2 2 (held over ___ ___ ___
weekend)
Toronto (7) May 12 90 73 X ___ ___ ___
Edmonton May 24 15 10 __ ___ ___ ___
Montreal May 26 120 62 (40 $100 delayed (?)
(Operation Sauvetage) bail)
Toronto (8) June 28 125 114 X ___ ___ ___
Montreal June 28 7 7 ? ___ ___ ___
Vancouver July 4 50 8 __ ___ ___ ___
Vancouver July 8 ? 5 __ ___ ___ [25]**
Kitchener July 9 11 11 X ___ ___ ___
Toronto July 13 1 1 __ ___ ___ ___
(held
overnight)
Toronto (9) July 26 200 70 X ___ ___ ___
Calgary Aug. 15 7(?) 7(?) __ ___ ___ ___
Edmonton Aug. 17 5 5 __ ___ ___ ___
Toronto (10, 11) Aug. 23
Morgentaler 110 91 40 held 20 ___ ___
overnight)
Scott 80 61 X ___ ___ ___
Toronto Sept. 1
Colodny 20 14 X ___ ___ ___
Toronto Sept. 8
Scott 124 71 X ___ ___ ___
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
held
over over overnight
1800 1300 145 64 __ 63
*Total incarcerated by April 1989.
**Those in jail by end of July (a few overlap with April 1989)
In jail on August 26, 1989:
Vancouver: 23 sentenced (See September issue)
Toronto: (12 men, eight women) 20 pre-trial arrest (for details, see article: 236 arrested elsewhere in this issue)
Note 1: Supporters are those who are present at Rescues but do not themselves participate in blocking entrances.
Note 2: Police procedures are uneven: not all participants are arrested; those arrested may be released with or without charge.
Note 3: It is not always possible to get exact figures of participants or even those arrested.
Summary: Since February 7-8 (Ash Wednesday), 1989, pro-lifers have been in Canadian jails without interruption, first exclusively in British Columbia, today also in Toronto. Two B.C. pro-lifers are serving six-month sentences (until January 5, 1990) for returning to scene of their previous protest. Injunctions and punishments against pro-life protesters are increasingly severe while their civil rights are increasingly restricted. (see article: “Assault on civil rights,” The Interim, September 1989).
Participating clergy
(a) In Vancouver at least four Evangelical clergymen, apparently associate or youth pastors, have been arrested and jailed. Among them are Revs. Donald Spratt, David Forsyth and Cliff Coutts. One Catholic priest, Fr. Vincent Hawkeswell, Editor of the B.C. Catholic, was sentence to five weekends in jail over one year. He has served four; the fifth weekend will be in February 1990.
(b) Winnipeg – Among the 44 arrested on April 22 were evangelical pastor Dan Rutherford and two Catholic priests: Father Eugene Rudachek (Ukrainian Byzantine rite) and Father Mike Kwiakoski).
Eventually all 44 were acquitted.
(c) Toronto – At least ten Evangelical, one Anglican and one Presbyterian clergymen have participated in Rescues. These include the well-known Baptist Evangelist pastor Ken Campbell. Others are: Pastors Steve Hill, Thornhill; Callum Beck, Toronto; Dale Renaud, Etobicoke; Fred Vaughan, Etobicoke; Rev. Alex Calder (Presbyterian), Peterborough; Pastor John Foster, Toronto; Richard Dies; and John Calder, (Anglican), Jarvis.
The following Catholic priests have been arrested one or more times for doing the same: Father Ted Colleton, C.S.Sp. (Spiritan), Toronto; Father Bill Comerford, C.S.S.R. (Redemptorist order), Toronto; Father Stephen Somerville, Toronto; Father Arnold Loebach, Mitchell, Ontario; Father Anthony Van Hee, S.J. (Society of Jesus), Guelph, Ontario; Father Gino Battaglini, Labrador City, Newfoundland.
We are not aware of any other priests, brothers or nuns who have participated in Rescues but we may be easily wrong on this point. Some of this information is difficult to get.
Summary
Fr. Vincent Hawkeswell, and Pastors Spratt, Forsyth and Coutts have served time in jail or are incarcerated now in British Columbia. Fr. Ted Colleton is in jail in Toronto until the conclusion of the trial of 87 adults on October 4 and 5, 1989. Father Gino Battaglini will be in jail until his trial on September 25.
Morgentaler injunction and priests
The injunction protecting Morgentaler’s abortuary was issued on April 13, and confirmed on May 5, 1989. Out of deference to the lawyer’s request, the daily picketing of four-and-a-half years’ duration (December 10, 1984) came to a halt on April 13.
After the confirmation of May 5, two young men, Joe Bissonnette and Mike Massin, defied the injunction. They were arrested and jailed over the weekend. On August 25, the judge dismissed the charges against Massin, dismissed two of the charges against Bissonnette, and fined him $400 for the third (trespassing).
The week following May 5, Father Alphonse de Valk resumed his weekly hour of picketing which he had carried out over the previous four years on the grounds that an injunction cannot be valid when protecting a non-existing right, the so-called right of doctors and women to kill unborn babies. He was arrested and released seven times over the next two months until finally, on July 12, he was charged with “obstructing a police officer” (politely declining to leave when requested) in mid-July. By that time 21 others had also begun to ignore the injunction, either by “praying” or “sidewalk counselling.”
Of these, the following were also charged: Father Comerford (sidewalk counselling),. Mrs. Natalie Lochwin (sidewalk counselling) and Peter Hendrick (selling newspapers). On September 13, Peter Hendrick and Fathers Comerford and de Valk were each sentenced to a fine of $750-payable over 60 days or 15 days in jail. The three indicated they will not pay the fine.
