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Pro-Life Conference Triumphs Over Adversity – CLC National News Report

Excerpt from the Dec. 2005 Campaign Life Coalition National News

A day before the November 17-19 National Pro-life Conference in Montreal was to kick off, it looked like it wasn’t going to happen at all. However, somewhat of a miracle occurred over the next 24 hours that transformed a disaster into a triumph of generosity and determined spirit.

Due to the threat of protests by the usual rent-a-mob of pro-abortion, pro-homosexual and feminist militants, the Holy Cross fathers of St. Joseph’s Oratory suddenly and unilaterally cancelled our contract to use their conference facilities. They took this severe action out of concern for their historic buildings and the safety of the pilgrims that travel to see and pray in them.

As CFRB radio host Michael Coren said, while historic buildings are nice, a church is more than the sum of its physical structure. He said that it was pathetic that a Catholic church would buckle to pressure from activists that promote a worldview so sharply at odds with what the Catholic Church teaches. He also worried about the state of freedom of speech in Canada.

For the record, Montreal police insisted they could provide any needed security and still the Oratory succumbed, as Campagne Quebec Vie President Luc Gagnon put it, to “intellectual terrorism.” Stockwell Day, in his speech to the conference, said that such giving in promoted “a society of fear” and “we cannot allow extremists in groups” to so dominate our events.

Ghislain Lebel, Gilles Noel and MP Pat O'Brien observe Conservative MP Stockwell Day speaking

However, despite the initial chaos that resulted from the shrine’s decision, and as some of us sensed would happen from the beginning, a lot of good resulted and the conference turned out to be an amazing success. In fact, it probably turned out much better due to the huge, mostly positive media exposure we received over the cancellation, the superior facilities and support at the replacement location and the determined spirit that arose among conference organizers and attendees. No threat of noisy protesters was going to prevent this assembly of determined pro-lifers from Quebec and across the country from carrying on with their conference.

Instead of scrapping the conference entirely, organizers went into immediate high gear to change venues. Three churches – two Catholic and one evangelical – offered their facilities. We settled on the location of a French-language Baptist Evangelical church called La Bible Parle, located in the Cartierville section of Montreal. This was a 25-minute drive from the original location and far from where most people had arranged their accommodation.

The Campaign Life Coalition team that played a key role in the "miracle"
From left to right - Nadia Gahagnon, Mary Ellen Douglas, Yoli Singson, Samantha Singson, Anna Tan

The Oratory had promised an hourly shuttle to the new location but that failed to materialize and we arranged our own special bus transportation and taxis to La Bible Parle to and from an Oratory meeting point. Jeff Laurin, the senior pastor of La Bible Parle, said that he opened his church to the conference because “we believe in this cause” but also to make a strong stand for freedom of speech. He said, “We don’t want to be shut up by anybody. There is a right to speak and to learn and we want that protected.” He so eloquently added, “If the other side is pro-choice they must let people decide, and to do that we have to be free to speak.” Pastor Laurin quickly arranged for a private security agency to protect the premises and also contacted Montreal police to ensure that protesters would not disrupt the conference.

Campaign Life Coalition and Life Canada, the event’s sponsors, and Campagne Quebec Vie, the conference host, are all extremely thankful for Pastor Laurin’s exceptional goodwill, the help of 25 generous and kind volunteers from his church community and the patience and understanding of the 400 participants, all of which combined to transform a crisis into a miraculously wonderful success. By Friday morning, after everything finally came together and everyone adjusted to the changes, there were only smiling, happy faces among the conference attendees who were delighted with the new location and exceptional speakers.

That is not to say there weren’t big problems. Transportation arrangements were initially chaotic, several speakers were delayed or missed the conference completely and numerous other blips occurred. Organizers and many participants were exhausted from the logistics and stress of the change.

A couple attendees had rotten vegetables thrown at them by protesters and there was slight aggravation caused by a small, bizarre group who annoyed us outside the Old Montreal restaurant that hosted our Friday dinner. 40 or 50 university age protesters also showed up for the last hour of the conference on Saturday. Montreal police, who showed up in force, were wonderful in defusing this situation.

Unfortunately, the change in venue resulted in additional costs. That’s why Campagne Quebec Vie is considering legal action against the Holy Cross Fathers of the Oratory for breech of contract. This conference was in the works for a year, CQV had a signed contract to use the Oratory facilities since March and then they backed out the day before hundreds of conference participants were set to arrive from around the country.

Distinguished CQV lawyer Emile Colas is the consummate professional and he immediately went into overdrive, contacting representatives within the Catholic Church to save the conference at its original venue. When it was obvious that wasn’t possible, he determined that there was no cancellation clause and therefore the Holy Cross Fathers who run the Oratory are responsible for moral, legal and financial damages. The day after the conference concluded, CBC radio featured the event as one of its main hourly stories.

As expected, the pro-aborts and anarchists claimed a great victory, by having us banned from the Oratory. Their focus had been to “abort the conference” as they shouted and proclaimed on their signs. But conference spokesman Richard Bastien countered on CBC Radio saying that their actions resulted in good media coverage and brought the abortion issue once again before the public.

CLC National President Jim Hughes summed up the conference by saying that despite the many challenges caused by the change of venue, the results were overwhelmingly positive. Speakers did an inspiring job and the participants were grateful and delighted to have come to the Montreal conference. We’ll report on the speakers next month.

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