Two regional pro-life conferences will be held in Ontario in late October and early November.
The first one will be in Kingston on Oct. 29. The eastern Ontario conference will feature speakers such as Jim Hughes, national president of the Campaign Life Coalition; Steve Jalsevac, managing director of LifeSiteNews; John-Henry Westen, editor of LifeSiteNews; Paul Tuns, editor of The Interim; Alissa Golob, director of Campaign Life Coalition Youth. The conference will include a special tribute to the late pro-life hero Father Ted Colleton, who was very active in Kingston during his life.
A pro-life conference like this has not been held in the Kingston area for the past ten years. “We used to have major ones in the ‘80s on a regular basis,” said Mary Ellen Douglas, president of CLC Kingston and national organizer of CLC, to The Interim. This conference, however, will be “on a bigger scale” and cater to the surrounding area, including Cornwall, Belleville, Brockville, Peterborough, Lindsay, and Ottawa.
The eastern Ontario conference will be the second of three Ontario conferences CLC hosts this year. The first one was held in Toronto in June, and another in London a week after the Kingston conference. According to Douglas, who also serves as CLC Ontario president, there are plans to have more conferences next year in other cities as well as events geared toward specific ethnic communities in Toronto.
The purpose of the Kingston conference is “to inform people … (and to) bring them together as pro-lifers,” as well as to encourage them to become more involved. There is already a “core group” and it would be “nice to draw others” into the pro-life movement.
The conference will be held at Our Lady of Lourdes parish hall at 500 Days Rd. in Kingston. Those who are interested in attending should call either (613) 389-4472 or (613) 382-1084.
The southwestern Ontario conference will be in London on Nov. 5. Hughes, Golob, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition executive director Alex Schadenberg, former MP Pat O’Brien, and London Area Right to Life president Phil Arnsby will be speaking. It will serve as both a regional CLC conference and as a wrap-up event for London’s 40 Days for Life campaign, which will end Nov. 6.
Arnsby told The Interim that this will be a “celebration” of the “challenge” of holding vigil for 12 hours a day for 40 consecutive days. Organizers also hope that the conference will be an opportunity for people living outside Toronto, where much of the pro-life action seems to occur, to be more involved in the pro-life movement.
The London conference will be held at the Best Western Lamplighter Inn at 591 Wellington Rd. The conference will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., ending early so attendees can join the 40 Days for Life vigil at Commissioners and Wellington roads for an hour or so afterward. The cost of the conference is $50, which will include lunch and coffee breaks.
