TORONTO, April 16, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Canada’s leading pro-life organization Campaign Life Coalition is raising the alarm that a private member’s bill banning “hate-promoting demonstrations” at Ontario’s legislature will be used to squelch pro-family protests against sex-ed or the homosexual agenda in provincial schools.
Canada’s national pro-life, pro-family political lobbying group is asking its Ontario supporters to contact their Members of Provincial Parliament to oppose Bill 84, which passed second reading last week and is now before the standing committee on justice policy.
“We have concerns that the bill will be used too broadly, if not by the current government but future ones that do not want to face criticism, specifically on the LGBTQ+ agenda,” says Campaign Life Coalition president Jeff Gunnarson.
Introduced by York Centre MPP Roman Baber, the Prohibiting Hate-Promoting Demonstrations at Queen’s Park Act bans any “demonstration, rally or other activity that, in the opinion of the Speaker, is likely to promote hatred against any identifiable group” on Queen’s Park grounds.
Bill 84 has the support of a number of Conservative MPPs and is endorsed by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC), according to Canadian Jewish News.
The proposed law appears intended to prevent such groups as white supremacists and neo-Nazis from demonstrating at the legislature, and Gunnarson says it looks good “on the surface.”
But those in authority will in all “probability” use Bill 84 to ban “legitimate, non-hateful” rallies that are seens as politically incorrect, he told LifeSiteNews.
“If anti-sex ed protests were deemed ‘homophobic’ or ‘transphobic’ based on a politically motivated definition of hate, or a single unofficial misplaced sign, or even infiltration by activists seeking to discredit pro-family protesters, they could be prevented by politicians or even security at Queen's Park,” Gunnarson said.
“In fact, we do not think this is a slight possibility but a probability, considering how easily the terms ‘homophobic’ and ‘transphobic’ are thrown at pro-family activists and citizens,” he said.
If Bill 84 becomes law, “we are worried that permits could be denied or that rallies be cancelled during the demonstration,” Gunnarson pointed out.
Meanwhile, B’Nai Brith Canada opposes the law for not going far enough.
Bill 84 “geographically focuses on only three of the four lawns surrounding the Ontario legislature in Toronto,” B’nai Brith CEO Michael Mostyn told Canadian Jewish News.
“What about rallies that don’t take place at Queen’s Park?”
Campaign Life Coalition is urging all concerned Ontarians to contact their MPPs and ask them to oppose Bill 84 “on the grounds that it could be used for political purposes to shut down legitimate, non-hateful demonstrations outside the provincial legislature.”
To find your MPP, go here.