5,000 hoped for at B.C. life rally

By Steve Weatherbe
Special to The B.C. Catholic
VICTORIA

Pro-life groups in southern B.C. are gearing up for the second annual March for Life May 14 in the provincial capital, hoping to mass as many as 5,000 people for a march from Victoria's city hall to the legislature.

That's a big jump from the 1,000-plus who participated last year, but co-organizer John Hof, president of the B.C. Campaign Life Coalition, says it's possible. "The enthusiasm is really building. But this kind of event takes six to eight years to build."

Catholic schools and parishes are especially busy chartering buses to attend the rally, along with pro-life groups.

Protestants are being more openly invited but organizers hope to do more in that direction next year. Hof laments the lukewarm response the organizers have gotten so far from some Protestant churches but expects at least one Seventh-Day Adventist congregation to send a contingent.

Dan O'Hara, state deputy of the B.C. Knights of Columbus, said feedback he's received from Protestant churches is that the issue is divisive and therefore church leaders are reluctant to raise it.

Next year organizers hope to include Protestant representation on the organizing committee, and this year a Protestant church service has been added to the Catholic Mass scheduled for the event.

O'Hara said the rally is important to "remind our politicians this issue is not dead for many Canadians. It is not going away."

The national March for Life in Ottawa has been taking place for 11 years and now draws 8,000. O'Hara said he'll be disappointed if fewer than 3,000 show up in Victoria.

O'Hara said the rally also raises the issue with the public, who are largely unaware that there are no legal restrictions on abortion in Canada, making it virtually unique in the world. "Our hope is to educate people."

John Hof, who describes himself as "an eternal optimist," looks for inspiration to British parliamentarian William Wilberforce's long battle to abolish slavery in the British Empire.

"I sure don't expect to see a bill to end abortion in the next Canadian Parliament," said Hof, "but I do see possibilities emerging from these difficult times. People tend to draw together to fight for family and faith and what's really important to them."

Hof also noted that the declining birth rates in the developed world were leading governments to adopt pro-life policies through the back door by offering sizeable baby bonuses. "At some point the penny is going to drop for us about the paradox of offering bonuses to have babies, on one hand, and promoting abortion, on the other."

One of the event's organizers, Natalie Hudson, said more Catholic schools will be sending contingents to the rally, which she sees as part of a rising consciousness of right-to-life issues. She noted the activity of university pro-life groups across Canada that have attracted repressive responses from student societies and university administrations. "We want to keep the issue alive and volatile."

Jack Krayenhoff, a retired Victoria physician, ardent prolifer, and member of a Church of our Lord Reformed Episcopalian congregation, said interest among Protestants has fallen off since the original fight over the legalization of abortion.

"I think most evangelical Protestants who were interested at first didn't like that the pro-life movement was so `anti,' that it was anti-abortion rather than for something, and then they became discouraged when the Conservatives got elected and did nothing about abortion. I never hear anything about abortion in church anymore."

Hudson agrees that Protestants take a different approach to pro-life activities. "Protestants are more likely to be involved on the ministry side, in pregnancy crisis centres, for example. Catholics are more involved with educational or political activities."

The march will be preceded by Mass at St. Andrew's Cathedral at noon and a Protestant service at Emmanuel Baptist Church at 10 a.m. The rally itself will begin at Centennial Square beside City Hall at 2 p.m.

The march will be followed by the annual meeting dinner of Victoria Right to Life at Emmanuel Baptist Church at 6 p.m. (tickets 250-383-1782).

Michael Green, head of Victoria Right to Life, called the rally "a small step, but a significant one."

At a practical level the rally won't likely sway many politicians, since the provincial election will have taken place just two days before the rally, May 12. However the event will "raise awareness and inspire supporters," said Green. "It is one link in a chain of things we do: the Life Chains, the retreats, the pregnancy counselling, and so on."

Green said Canada's former culture of life was destroyed swiftly and will take much longer to rebuild. "A house can burn down in minutes but take months to rebuild."

Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, of Vancouver will attend, as will Bishop Richard Gagnon of Victoria.

Bishop Gagnon told The B.C. Catholic the rally is important as a means to "keep the right to life in the public forum" and to counter "the attitude that this question has been settled and it's time for society to move on to other things. It's not true."

He noted there is no abortion law in Canada; a Supreme Court decision struck down out the old law. "It's an open wound."

The bishop also said the rally was important to assert the right of both religious and non-religious people to advocate for change. "It's part of our democracy."

As for those who say pro-lifers are advancing a religious morality that has no place in secular law, Bishop Gagnon said, "It's a human rights issue, and plenty of groups and individuals that are not religious have strong views on it. Something is not right or wrong because the Church says it is. The Church says it is right or wrong because it is right or wrong."

Other speakers include Victoria natural family planning advocates Robin and Rachel Daniels. They will discuss how the normalization of abortion in Canada has also brought about acceptance of pre-marital sex and contraception, tolerated by many pro-lifers. "It's divisive to talk about but it needs to be faced," said Robin Daniels.

Also on the podium will be Archbishop Miller, political commentator and American Orthodox Rabbi Daniel Lapin, the K of C's O'Hara, and Senator Gerry St. Germain.

For information on buses going to the March for Life in Victoria see www.rcav.org.