By Hilary White
OTTAWA, March 26, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A panel of legal experts and MP’s told an audience at Carleton University that Canada does not now and never has recognized a constitutional right to abortion. The panel was hosted by the recently formally established campus pro-life students’ group, Carleton Lifeline.
Canadian Catholic News reports that the March 21 event was attended by Liberal MP Tom Wappel (Scarborough Southwest, Ont.); Janet Epp Buckingham Laurentian Leadership Centre director; Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott (Saskatoon-Wanuskewin, Sask.), co-chair of Parliament’s pro-life caucus.
Liberal MP Tom Wappel described the so-called “constitutional right to abortion” as a misstatement of the law and an example of a “big lie” being told so often it has come to be broadly believed.
Wappel was not hopeful about an immediate change in the law. He told participants that the hope of introducing a private members’ bill to introduce restrictions on abortion is slim. Since 1990, when the Mulroney government’s Bill C-43 was defeated, “no government has tried to touch it,” Wappel said.
In comments today to LifeSiteNews.com, Wappel said although “One can never tell for the future,” the current Conservative government under Stephen Harper has made it clear that he will not touch the issue and the same can be said of the other leading Canadian political parties, including Wappel’s own Liberals.
“The only way would be to bring forward a private members’ bill and that is very difficult, particularly on a subject as controversial as abortion.”
An indirect approach may be effective, he said, and cited issues such as informed consent, the right of health care workers to opt out. But the main goal is electing members both provincially and federally who are pro-life.
“Canadians convinced of the humanity of the unborn,” he said, “need to get involved in politics. They should concentrate on making sure the MP’s and MPP’s are pro-life. They need to attend the party meetings, learn to ask the questions and bring the issue to light.”
“If a legislature is not prepared to believe in the humanity of the unborn child, you won’t see pro-life legislation pass through it. You have to have a majority of Members who believe in the humanity of the unborn child.”
Dr. Janet Epp Buckingham said at the Carleton panel that the Supreme Court decision that struck down the previous law recognized “a legitimate government interest in protecting the unborn.” Since then, however, no pro-life legislation has been put forward by any government and private members’ bills have failed.
Wappel told LifeSiteNews.com though polls consistently show that the Canadian public wants at least some restrictions on abortion, that news has not been “drilled into the heads” of the politicians as much as the “pro-choice” abortion rhetoric. “It’s going to take twenty years, or more,” he said.
Wappel added that the work of creating a societal shift is enormous, but that there is no other way. “[Slave trade abolitionist William] Wilberforce spent the better part of his life working on the slave issue. It wasn’t easy but he did it.”