This page contains detailed talking points and references. For basic talking points, and guidance on how to have a meeting with your elected representative, see the meetings page.
- The Charter protects freedom of expression
- Victim photography in public discourse
- The pro-life movement is motivated by love
1) The Charter protects freedom of expression
Some municipalities have already passed by-laws restricting fetal imagery, however none of these by-laws have survived a legal challenge. A Charter challenge was filed against the City of St. Catharine’s in February 2024 for its by-law restricting pro-life flyers. If struck down, many similar by-laws in other cities would fall too, like London, Woodstock, and Calgary.
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Irwin Toy Ltd. v. Quebec that the section 2(b) right to freedom of expression protects all non-violent expression that conveys meaning, including that which may be unpopular, distasteful, or contrary to the mainstream.
An Ontario court ruled in CHP vs Hamilton (City) in 2018 that “speech is not ‘violence’ just because people may find it offensive.”
In 2017 the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that being offended by expression, or even intimidated or alarmed, is not grounds on which to censor it:
“A person’s subjective feelings of disquiet, unease, and even fear, are not in themselves capable of ousting expression categorically from the protection of s. 2(b). […]
[Protesters] are not required to limit their upset in order to engage their constitutional right to engage in protest. […]
The statutory obligation to promote workplace safety, and the “safe space” policies enacted pursuant to them, cannot be used to swallow whole Charter rights. In a free and democratic society, citizens are not to be handcuffed and removed from public space traditionally used for the expression of dissent because of the discomfort their protest causes.”
Bracken v. Fort Erie (Town), 2017 ONCA 668
In R. v. Zundel, Justice McLachlin (as she then was) stated that the purpose of protection for freedom of expression extends to protecting “beliefs which the majority regard as wrong or false,” frequently involving “a contest between the majoritarian view of what is true or right and an unpopular minority view.” Protection for freedom of expression is especially robust when it applies to controversial or disturbing speech.
Section 1 of the Charter has the capacity to restrict time, place, and manner of expression but may not be used to restrict the content of expression
In response to requests from Toronto politicians to censor the use of abortion victim photography, the former Attorney General of Ontario, Yassir Naqvi (Liberal), said: “we will not be able to justify a ban on just general display of graphic imagery based on Section 1.” He said it “would be unconstitutional.”
The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has ruled in Emanuel v. Ryerson Students’ Union, 2023 that pro-life beliefs, founded in the complainant’s religious beliefs, fit squarely within the grounds of creed in the Ontario Human Rights Code, and thus can qualify for protection against discrimination.
The Supreme Court case Roncarelli v. Duplessis was a landmark constitutional decision against government officials who act with bad faith and bias against citizens who hold minority beliefs.
The Supreme Court in Committee for the Commonwealth of Canada v. Canada made it abundantly clear that citizens have a right to use public sidewalks and other public locations for the peaceful expression of opinion; this is not a privilege conferred on citizens by municipalities, or by the federal or provincial government.
“Unquestionably, the dissemination of an idea is most effective when there are a large number of listeners; the economic and social structure of our society is such that the largest number of individuals, or potential listeners, is often to be found in places that are state property. One thinks immediately of parks or public roads which, by their very nature, are suitable locations for a person wishing to communicate an idea.”
Committee for the Commonwealth of Canada v. Canada, 1991
In R. v. Spratt, the BC Court of Appeal said that communicating the pro-life message lies “at the very heart of freedom of expression.”
“Beliefs about the meaning and value of human life are fundamental to political thought and religious belief. Those beliefs find expression in the debate on abortion. […] It follows that the importance of communicating those ideas and beliefs lies at the ‘very heart of freedom of expression.’ “
R. v. Spratt, 2008 BCCA 340
The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized leafleting as a “long-standing and traditional form of freedom of expression.” (U.F.C.W., Local 1518, v. KMart Canada Ltd., 1999)
2) Victim Photography in Public Discourse
- For decades and decades, people have used victim photography and victim imagery to draw public attention to the plight of the vulnerable
- The pro-life movement in Canada has used abortion victim photography for decades
- Other modern uses of victim photography:
- vegan activists use images and videos of inhumane and disturbing agricultural practices
- advocates against drunk driving use bloody images and images of victims to persuade people not to drink and drive
- photographs of victims from the war in Ukraine are published front-page by newspapers (and thus visible publicly) and distributed by those trying to rally support for Ukraine
- anti-war efforts often involve photographs of the victims of war (e.g. famous photo of Kim Phuc)
- The Toronto Star has featured disturbing victim photography on the front page, visible in public
- The Toronto Star also published and defended running a “gut-punch photo of a homeless man” as an important part of public discourse
- graphic photos and videos have been shown publicly by people on both sides of the wars in the Middle East to try to gain support for their side in the international communities
- Barb Tarbox died at age 42 from lung cancer caused by cigarettes, and Health Canada has used her story in victim photography on cigarette packages
- Pope Francis printed a postcard with victim photography to show the horrors of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki
- Media organizations across the world displayed a photo of Alan Kurdi, a two-year-old Syrian boy who drowned as his family was fleeing the war
- people and organizations often show images of victims when trying to get support in the aftermath of natural disasters
- All of the above are examples of people using images of victims to appeal to people on social and political issues by showing visual evidence
- Victim photography often shows the result of violence, and this is used by activists to educate the public on why that violence should be stopped — showing photos of the victims of violence is not violence, but rather a common way to advocate against violence
3) The pro-life movement is motivated by love
- The pro-life movement seeks to educate the public on what abortion does by showing abortion victim photography
- Dr. Fraser Fellows, an obstetrician-gynecologist from London, ON who performed thousands of abortions up to 23 weeks and 6 days, confirmed that the pictures CCBR uses are accurate
- Dr. Fellows declared in a 2013 debate with Dr. Stephanie Gray that “that’s basically what is involved in doing an abortion. We don’t actually visualize things like that, but that’s what happens”
- The pro-life movement seeks to facilitate and promote respectful and civil dialogue on the contentious social, ethical, and political issue that is abortion
- There are many stories that illustrate the positive impact that pro-life movement has had with its activism across Canada
Some stories from those who are thankful for encountering the pro-life message
These are just a few testimonies to the personal and educational benefit that pro-life outreach has.
While abortion advocates claim that the pro-life message is unwelcome, people have a wide variety of reactions to the pro-life message, and many people are thankful to have encountered the pro-life message — including thankful to have seen photos of abortion victims, even though the photos are difficult to see.
Share stories of your own, or use some of the stories below.
“While doing ‘Choice’ Chain in Calgary this past summer (2022), a lady approached me and I asked her what she thought about abortion. She said, “I really do not like these pictures. I don’t understand what you are doing here.” I told her I did not like the pictures either and asked her again what she thought about abortion. She said, “I think it can be necessary in some situations.” We started to go over some of the hard circumstances that women face. Before long she began to share that she‘d recently had an abortion herself, and was not doing very well emotionally now. I was able to share with her that I’d had an abortion as well and that caused her to open up and share even more of what she was going through. Her boyfriend was very angry, making her feel just horrible about the entire thing, even though he’d wanted her to have the abortion. I expressed how incredibly sorry I was that she was being treated in this way. When we were ready to end the conversation, I told her about the post-abortive care that is available and encouraged her to look into it. She said she hadn’t known there was help and would look into it. After lots of tears and a big hug she said to me, “I just want to thank you so much for talking to me today. I am here on holiday and when I return home I was going to commit suicide because I just could handle this any longer. Thank you so much for being so willing to talk to me.”
Carolyn (Calgary)
Carolyn (Calgary)
“We talked with a lady who said she was pro-choice. We asked her if she would support women having abortions for any reason and through all 9 months of pregnancy and she said, “Well I don’t agree with all 9 months, that is clearly a baby at that stage; and I know because I had a miscarriage and also lost another baby after he was born at 9 months old.” We asked her how she is doing now and she initially said she was ok but then added that she also had an abortion when she was younger and still regrets it and wonders if that child was a boy or a girl. We got to share with her about the post-abortive care that was available. When we continued talking about the hard circumstances that people face and how we would never say that killing our born children could be the solution to hard circumstances, she agreed. She thanked us for talking with her and said she was planning to look into post-abortive care.”
“While door knocking in Vancouver, I talked with Pauline who had previously been a volunteer for the local abortion clinic. She said she’d been waiting for years for someone to talk to about this and thanked us for having the conversation with her. She expressed an interest in the local pregnancy care centre and said she would really like to volunteer for them in the future.”
Quiana (Vancouver)
“I spoke to this girl around 4 years ago while tabling on campus. She had an abortion just three months prior to our conversation so everything was very fresh for her and she was feeling really down and sad because she was pressured into having that first abortion. So I brought her to our table so that she could see some post abortive resources, and then she also saw at the table information about pregnancy crisis centres and her heart broke – because she didn’t know about it. After our long conversation at the table about what she experienced, we exchanged contact info and we even met outside of school and had lunch together; and I just tried to get in touch with her from time to time to see how she’s doing. Then a few years pass by and she just messaged me out of the blue for more info about the crisis centres because she was pregnant.”
Nina (Toronto)
“While doing outreach on a local university campus, I noticed two girls, who were standing off a bit and listening to the conversations I had with other people. When they had a chance, they joined the conversation and asked me why I was doing pro-life outreach and what made me passionate about this cause. Both girls said they were grateful for the outreach our group was doing and the opportunity to discuss the issue and wanted to think about it further.”
Quiana (Calgary)
“I spoke to a woman named Laura … I told her that while we arent condemning anyone who is post abortive, we have an obligation to speak up against the injustice that occurs against pre-born children. When she left, she said that she agreed with us and that people need to see the images of abortion victims. She signed up for training before she left.”
Carmel (Regina)
“We spoke with a gentleman named Rick. He shared with us that when he was in high school, his girlfriend become pregnant and decided that she wanted an abortion. He said that he was pro-life at the time and was very hurt with her decision to end the life of their child. Since that time, Rick had become pro-choice. As we talked with him, we expressed sympathy for what he had gone through. There were many things about abortion that Rick was not aware of. For example, how abortion procedures are performed and that in Canada we have no laws on abortion. He was quite shocked to hear that women can abort their children in this country for any reason at any stage of their pregnancy. At the end of our discussion he agreed with us that there needs to be a lot more education and discussions about abortion so that people are informed about what decision they are making. He thanked us for talking with him and he said that he had some things to really think about.”
Carolyn (Calgary)