Armed with information, pro-life advocates in Ontario left an educational conference over the weekend with renewed determination and passion.
The Alliance for Life Ontario hosted its 34th annual conference Saturday in Mississauga, Ont. to rally local, provincial and national pro-life groups and equip them with new information for their fight against abortion and euthanasia.
“It’s time to get loud,” one pro-life activist told True North at the event.
AFLO featured author and researcher David Reardon, who discussed a recent study he conducted which found that 60% of Canadian women who have had abortions felt pressured into doing so. He said his findings challenge the narrative about abortions being a woman’s choice.
Another speaker informed attendees about censorship of their movement and how to use the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to fight back. Others focused on issues they had with euthanasia through Canada’s medical assistance in dying program.
“I think it’s very important to continuously educate yourself. I think there are some people in the pro-life movement who think ‘abortion is bad. Euthanasia is bad. I already know that. I don’t need to come to these conferences.’ But new information comes out all the time. New horrors present themselves.” said Josie Luetke, the director of education and advocacy for Campaign Life Coalition. “It’s important to be able to learn about them so that you can respond.”
Campaign Life Coalition is a national organization which lobbies all levels of government to protect life in the womb and beyond.
Luetke, who’s been involved in the pro-life movement for over a decade, said conferences like this are critical to prepare pro-life activists for their mission of persuading the public.
“The more times you hear it, the more time it sinks in, and when people confront you with an argument. Hopefully, it comes to the surface quicker because you just heard about it a couple of weeks ago,” she said.
“If you haven’t been involved in the pro-life movement, these are literally life and death issues. They affect so many people.”
Luetke stressed the importance of local pro-life groups for the movement.
“Your local right-to-life group needs your help. Whatever time you can spare, whatever small donation,” she said. “We at Campaign Life Coalition are a national group, but we need local groups working, (local groups) can have those relationships, and you can pay attention to what your municipal council is doing in a way that a national group can’t.”
She said AFLO plays an invaluable role in supporting local pro-life groups through education and its annual conferences.
Gregory Tomchyshyn, a representative for CitizenGo, a “pro-life, pro-family, pro-freedom” online activist group, said he went to the event to keep himself up to date with the latest pro-life information.
He said it’s important for pro-life groups to seek common ground with people who are less likely to agree with their message.
“If you don’t have a common place to start it’s just people shouting at each other and no one’s gonna be receptive to either position or viewpoint,” he said.
Canadian veteran Kelsi Sheren, who spoke out against assisted suicide at the conference, said the event was all about education and helping people realize there’s a community that wants positive change and has the will to achieve it.
“I want Canadians to realize that you can 100% Make a change individually. But you have to actually take the risk and stand up and speak,” Sheren said. “There’s always going to be someone standing in your way, but you have to be willing to go outside of them and do the hard thing.”
Her comments were echoed by one attendee, Carolynne O’Neil, who said she felt encouraged rather than dejected after listening to the speakers.
“We have to stand up every single minute. We don’t just do it on a Saturday afternoon. We don’t do it once a year. We do it every single day,” she said. “And if we don’t, there’s going to be worse things happening. Sometimes. It just takes one person and if you can be that one person to take a stand…you will see other people standing up too.”
