News

Wednesday May 12, 2010


Pro-Life Youth to Walk Across Canada this Summer

CALGARY, AB, May 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Over a dozen Canadian youth will be walking across Canada with a group called Crossroads this summer.

Starting in Vancouver on May 24th and ending in Ottawa on August 14th, the group will spend 12 weeks walking across the country to promote the dignity and sanctity of all human life.

Instead of taking the summer to spend time with friends or earn needed money for school, these young Canadians say they hope to save lives and change hearts and minds through their peaceful pro-life witness along the highways and byways of Canada and in thousands of towns and cities.

This is the 3rd annual walk that Crossroads will sponsor across Canada, along with 3 simultaneous walks across the United States. Starting and ending on the same dates as the Canadian walk, the U.S. walks begin in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles and end together in Washington, DC.

Crossroads says that the first Canadian walk in 2007 was a tremendous success. The group was able to reach out to thousands of Canadians with the simple message that all human life is sacred. The walkers gave hundreds of talks and encountered thousands of people along the road.

“I chose to walk with Crossroads because I feel it is my responsibility to defend the sanctity and dignity of human life,” said 2010 walk leader, Br. Paul JohnMary, a seminarian from Nova Scotia. “In a society in which life is being attacked from all sides, more than ever before pro-lifers have to raise their voices and make some sound.”

The Crossroads mission is to peacefully witness to the pro-life message. They wear t-shirts with the words “PRO-LIFE” in large letters across the front as they walk. The t-shirts are a way for them to let people know why they are walking and enables them to take a stand for the unborn who do not have a voice of their own.

“This walk is very counter-cultural,” said Cyril Doll from Calgary, who led the first walk in 2007, “but we believe that there is a silent majority of Canadians who share our views. We aren’t walking in protest of abortion as much as we are out to change hearts and minds on the issue – at the grass roots level.”

The trek across Canada will take three months and stretch across a large portion of Canada. The walkers take turns walking over 25 kilometers day and night. “The walk is a way for young people to effect a very positive change on today’s society,” said Martha Nolan, Executive Director of Crossroads. “Through Crossroads, lives have been saved through simple encounters and conversations on the side of the road. We plan to be witnesses for the unborn and look forward to being able to reach out to countless Canadians this summer with the message that all life is precious.”