TORONTO, March 24, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On March 17 pro-life clubs at six universities across Canada took part in the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), a pictorial display which graphically compares abortion to historically recognized genocides. The University of Toronto obstructed the free speech rights of its pro-life students, according to a report in the upcoming April Interim newspaper. After weeks of negotiation, the University of Toronto Students for Life thought they had reached an acceptable compromise with Student Affairs Coordinator Jim Delaney. They were to be allowed to set up outdoors, but would have to do so under an open-sided tent the University would erect. However, when the students attempted to put up their display, Delaney claimed that the signs must be facing almost completely inwards which would make it impossible for the signs to be seen from outside the display.
The pro-life group refused to comply with the last-minute demands. Using this denial as an excuse, Delaney refused to have pro-abortion protestors who blocked the pro-life display removed. Undaunted, the pro-life students were able to orient the signs towards a high-traffic area that was harder to obstruct. They had so much foot traffic that by mid-day they ran out of explanatory literature to distribute and had to quickly make copies. The pro-abortion activists blocking the display did not have a permit to protest. Jim Delaney would not comment on why unreasonable demands were placed on the pro-life students, who had gone through the proper channels to get a permit for their event, while pro-abortion students were allowed to set up an impromptu display with no limitations imposed by the university. More on this story will be available from The Interim’s April issue. https://www.theinterim.com