Help discriminated pro-life student win her legal battle: LifeFunder
(LifeSiteNews) – On this week’s episode of The Van Maren Show, Jonathon speaks with Talia Battista, a Christian student who filed a human rights complaint against an Ontario university for harassment and “discrimination” over her pro-life beliefs.
In 2017, as a student at Ryerson University (since renamed to Toronto Metropolitan University), Battista faced harassment from the university’s student union. She was the victim of multiple thefts and was splashed with water by student union volunteers and employees. According to Battista, the student union’s leadership is elected by only a handful of students and receives dues from every student as part of their tuition costs.
In the winter of that year, Battista was excluded from a student union meeting for survivors of sexual assault. She was told that her pro-life views contradicted the pro-abortion policy of the student union. Battista told a student union representative that she was excluded from the meeting and that she was not going to bring up pro-life issues.
After the representative spoke to her manager, Battista was told that because she was an executive of Ryerson Students for Life, she would be excluded from all student union services. The Students for Life club, however, was not present on campus, having been banned by the student union. Further, Battista never belonged to the Ryerson chapter of Students for Life.
After Battista contacted the student union about other pro-lifers on campus, she found that anyone perceived as holding pro-life views, or anyone suspected of association with a person perceived as holding pro-life views, would likewise not have access to student services.
Another incident involved student union employees attempting to shut down a university-approved pro-life event Battista was hosting at the school’s student center. The university in turn forced Battista to shorten the event after attempting to talk with the student union employees. After the student union employees protested the presence of pro-lifers at the student center, Battista and others were forced to leave the building.
After attempting to resolve issues with the student union by appealing to Ryerson University administration, Battista filed a legal challenge against Ryerson and its student union with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.
“My claim is that my pro-life beliefs are founded on my creed based on my Christian faith,” Battista told Jonathon. “This is something that the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has never definitively ruled on, whether or not pro-life beliefs fit the definition of creed.”
This January, the Tribunal ruled that since Battista’s pro-life beliefs are a tenet of her Catholic faith, they fall under the protection of the Ontario Human Rights Code.
“Why [some] are so excited about this ruling is because it kind of proves what pro-lifers have been claiming all along: That our pro-life beliefs aren’t just some preference or something that we can … give up or get rid of at a whim, but [that] this is something that is central to our identity, something that’s part of my life,” Battista continued. “It’s something that’s part of our faith, central to our identity, and just foundational to who we are and how we perceive the world.”
In the meantime, Battista is waiting for a full hearing and is fundraising for her legal case. If you are interested in helping Battista in her legal battle with Ryerson University and its student union, click here to go to her LifeFunder page and make a donation.
For more from Talia Battista, listen to this week’s episode of The Van Maren Show below. Have a Happy Triduum and a Happy Easter!
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Help discriminated pro-life student win her legal battle: LifeFunder