The Ottawa March for Life is a yearly demonstration in Ottawa. It is quickly becoming a major political event, with last year's participation reaching 12,000 marchers on Parliament Hill. It is also becoming a magnet for other pro-life events, such as the annual pro-life Campaign Life Coalition Youth Conference and the annual Campaign Life Coalition Rose Dinner.

Please click here for information about the 2009 March for Life. Next year's march will be bigger than ever, and information about it will be available shortly.

Here's a promotional video (filmed in 2008) for the 2009 March for Life: 

To all Montreal Youth: come to Ottawa for this year’s exciting Youth Conference!

Location:Hampton Inn Ottawa, 100 Coventry Road There will be fantastic pro-life speakers, workshops, and opportunities to meet with other youth.

To sign-up please contact 416-204-9749 or e-mail youth@campaignlifecoalition.com

Registration: $45/ per person (call for special group rates)

Breakfast, lunch and one coffee break included.

Schedule of events

7:30AM- Mass (Hampton Inn)

8- 8:30AM- Registration & Breakfast

8:30- 8:45AM- Music (by Gethsemane Ministries) and Welcome by John-Henry Westen,Editor and Co-Founder of LifeSite News

8:45- 9:30AM- Plenary Address, Alissa Golob, Campaign Life Coalition Youth

9:30-10:15AM- WORKSHOP (choose one of four amazing workshops to learn more about various topics pro-lifers are faced with today in an intimate and interactive setting. To see the list of speakers and topics click here)

10:15- 10:45AM- Coffee Break

10:45- 11:30AM- WORKSHOP 11:30- 12:30PM- Plenary Address, Pam Stenzel, Chastity and Motivational Speaker,Founder of Enlighten Communications

12:30- 1:30PM- LUNCH

1:30- 2:15PM- Plenary Address, Fr. Bouquet, President of Human Life International

2:15- 2:30PM- Wrap-Up

PLEASE JOIN US FOR THIS GREAT EVENT!!!

The Triduum is three days of prayer, reflection and action for the cause of Life and Family, en route to the May 10 March for Life in Ottawa. JOIN US FOR A WONDERFUL CELEBRATION OF LIFE! “Building a Culture of Life and Family in Canada"

Join the event on Facebook ­­­­­­»»

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

•6:30 to 7:30p.m.: Rosary & Adoration at the chapel of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary (80 Laurier Avenue East, Montréal, QC, H2T 1E8).

•7:30p.m.: Mass at the chapel of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary (80 Laurier Avenue East, Montréal, QC, H2T 1E8).

•8:30p.m.: Eucharistic Procession (led by Father Couturier & Father Boquet, president of Human Life International) around Park Lahaie (1 Saint Joseph Boulevard East, Montréal, QC, H2T 1H2).

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

•11:30 –1:30p.m.: Lunch for priests of Montreal with presentations by Father Boquet , Raymond de Souza, & Brigitte Bédard (Buffet Vichy, 7205 Newman Boulevard, Montréal, QC, H8N 2K3 – parking included). Buffet menu.

•4p.m.: Adoration at St. Patrick’s Basilica (454 René Lévesque Boulevard West, Montréal, QC, H2Z 1A7).

•5:15p.m.: Mass at St. Patrick’s Basilica (454 René Lévesque Boulevard West, Montréal, QC, H2Z 1A7).

•6p.m.: Pizzeria Dinner with presentations by Father Boquet , Raymond de Souza, & Brigitte Bédard (Restaurant Il Focolaio, 1223 rue du Square-Phillips, Montreal, QC, H3B 3E9). À la carte menu.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

•7a.m.: departure by bus for Ottawa* (point of departure: Central Station, 895, de la Gauchetière West, Montréal, QC, H3B 4G1).

•7:30a.m.: second point of departure at Fairview Shopping Centre (6815 TransCanada Highway, Pointe-Claire, QC, H9R 1C4).

•10 a.m.: bilingual mass at Notre-Dame Cathedral (385 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1N 1J9).

•12:00p.m. : gathering on Parliament Hill

•1:30p.m.: March for Life

•4:30p.m.: return trip to Montreal *To purchase bus tickets to Ottawa, please contact 514-344-2686. The cost for the round-trip ticket is $30.

MEET THE SPEAKERS!

Brigitte Bédard:

Brigitte Bédard is an independent journalist, researcher, and speaker. How can modern feminism be liberated of its erroneous conception of women? Interest in the history of feminism brings us face to face with the problems of modern feminism – an ideology which imprisons women by imposing its values, conception and customs on women first and then on the entire society.

Father Shenan Boquet:

Father Shenan Boquet is president of Human Life International, the largest international pro-life organization in the world. Father Boquet has given numerous presentations and conferences on the dignity of the human being, the nature of marriage, social justice, and moral theology. He has led retreats and educational seminars on the Theology of the Body, the Bible, and other theological subjects. Father Boquet has appeared on EWTN and Ave Maria Radio. 

Raymond de Souza:

Raymond de Souza is the founder and director of Saint Gabriel Communications, Australia's first international outreach to promote Catholic apologetics. He is the program director for Portuguese speaking countries for Human Life International - HLI - and of the Sacred Heart Legion in the United States. As an internationally renowned speaker, Raymond has given more than 2,000 talks over twenty-five years in defence of Catholic social teaching and apologetics. Raymond and his wife Theresa have been blessed with eight children.

Please mark your calendars for the National March for Life in Ottawa, coming up May 10th, 2012!

The March for Life is a wonderful occasion to stand up and be pro-active in your defense for human life. For those that have not attended before, the event begins with a mass at 10am in English or French.

At noon, everyone gathers on Parliament Hill and at 1:30pm we will begin the March through downtown Ottawa. This year there will also be testimonies from post-abortive woman (Silent No More Awareness Campaign). For more information and to see the promotional video please click here.

Please tell your friends and family about this important event, we need your support and look forward to seeing you there! Also, for Montréal residents, keep an eye out as we will be welcoming Father Boquet, president of Human Life International, to speak at events in Montreal in the days preceding the March for Life. More info on these exciting events will follow. 

The following figures and anecdotes, I find, are pretty encouraging:

• Paris March for Life: On Sunday, January 22, 17 000 showed up, including three bishops, for the eighth French March for Life. The laity were encouraged by 32 French bishops to attend. L'abbé Loddé, formerly of Quebec City, was in attendance and was interviewed by the press.
• On Saturday, January 21, over 40 000 attended the seventh West Coast March for Life in San Francisco.
• On Monday, in D.C. several hundred thousand people gathered for the annual March for life. A powerful video is presented below.
• Next, in Hungary over 100 000 gathered this past week in support of the Prime Minister who is under pressure from his European counterparts for Hungary's adoption of a pro-life constitution. Poland and the Ukraine are the lone European governments supporting the government of Viktor Orban. Your prayers are needed as this nation is particularly vulnerable right now as it negotiates debt relief with the European Union. 
• Finally, on a lighter side, in today's Journal de Montréal, editorialist J. Jacques Samson, commenting on the lamentable state of the Quebec's health care system is calling for a return to hospitals run by religious communities. Tongue in cheek, he states that under the nuns Quebec enjoyed responsible admiistrators, physicians commensurately paid with their peers in the other provinces as well as their participation in the management of the institutions, including the finances.

Spread it around ! 

Two vids of this year's National March for Life, one professionally cut, the other crudely stitched together by yours truly. Guess which is which! Enjoy.

This past Thursday, May 12, 2011, I led a small group of faithful pro-lifers to Ottawa to participate in the National March for Life. It was a full day and add some, for we only got back at around 2 AM Friday morning. 24 plus hours later,  I can now say that I feel recovered from the exercise. Despite the soreness from the long hours of standing, I am glad to have gone and look forward to participating again next year.

The day began with an early departure for we wanted to arrive in Ottawa for the 10 AM mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral. This meant leaving Central Station at about 7:30 AM and rendez-vous'ing with a second group awaiting us in the west-island, at Fairview Shopping Centre. We weren't disappointed by the early departure for we arrived at the cathedral some ten minutes before mass time. Further, several of us - Donald Kondusky, Johan Distler, and myself, were fortunate to have reserved seats waiting for us; the Knights of Columbus had several cancellations and one invited three of us to join their ranks. Lucky break!

The mass was presided over my Archbishop Pendergast of Ottawa along with several of his bishop brothers.  Once over, we proceeded to Parliament Hill for the opening ceremony. On the way, Charlotte L'Heureux, Jack Coyne, Marcel Givogue, and myself, took a short cut through Major Hill park and while there paused to eye the tulips and eat our lunch. Charlotte and I tested the delicacies at one of the finer greasy spoons.  I wolfed down the fries and chicken pita.

Finally we arrived on the hill as the speeches were being made.  I don't know if it was because of the beautiful sunshine and the cool breeze, but the turnout was large. Later that day I heard that the crowd was estimated at 15 000 people, that is 3000 more than last year.

This year's theme was "Abortion Kills a Human Being." Our own Georges Buscemi, Quebec Life Coalition president, was interviewed by the French side of the CBC; his interview made be found at: http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/societe/2011/05/12/001-manifestation-avortement-ottawa.shtml.

Eventually, when all was said, we proceeded to walk through the streets of Ottawa, led by many banners and the Knights in full regalia. The walk proceeded up Wellington to Elgin, passing along its way both the cenatath and the human rights monument.  At this point our path crossed a large group of protesters and what appeared to be a jostling exercice began; the youth in both camps attempted to outshout the other with their various slogans.  Call be bias but I think our own won out.  We snaked through the streets to Bank street and back to Wellington and the hill. Our own Irene Camilli appears here. The afternoon on the hill ended with several members of "Silent No More Awareness Campaign" giving personal testimonies of how abortion had affected their lives and an orthodox prayer service.

Here are some pictures of the day : 

A chartered bus for the Ottawa March for Life will depart from across the street of Montreal's downtown central station (935 de la Gauchetière West) on Thursday, May 12 at 7:15 AM and will return to Montreal at the same location for about 6 PM. Round-trip tickets are $30 per ticket. There will one stop to and from Ottawa - Fairview Shopping Center.  To reserve call Quebec Life Coalition at (514) 344-2686.

In anticipation of the 2010 March for Life in Ottawa, here's a great report of last year's March from LifeSiteNews. 

By the way, QLC is organising buses to the March from downtown Montreal. Anyone interested call (514) 344-2686 or email us.

Also, all interested school teachers, principals, etc. who might want to bring students, contact us about the youth banquet the evening of the March (Thursday, May 13) and the all-day youth conference the next day (Friday, May 14).

Hope to see you at the March for Life in Ottawa. Last year's total participation was 12,000, we're expecting even more this year!